What is crypto? A skater's quick take
Coins, tokens and NFTs in plain words, explained with things you'd find in a skate shop, plus wallets, prices and the scams to watch for.
"Crypto" gets used for a lot of different things. Somebody says it and they might mean a coin, a token, an NFT, a wallet or a whole blockchain. The easiest way to sort it out is to walk into a skate shop.
Coins: the cash in the register
A coin is the built-in money of a blockchain. It's what the chain itself uses to pay for its work. On Solana, the coin is SOL, and every transaction pays a small fee in it.
Think of it like the cash in the register. The shop runs on it no matter what's on the shelves.
Tokens: the sticker stack
A token is something created by a program that runs on a chain. Most tokens are fungible, which means one is the same as the next, like a stack of identical stickers. If you swap one sticker for another from the same stack, nothing changed.
Anybody can make a token and give it any name. That matters a lot for safety, and we'll come back to it.
NFTs: the one-off deck
An NFT is a token where each one is unique. Each has its own ID and its own owner recorded on the chain. Think of a one-off hand-painted deck signed by the artist. There's a wall of regular decks next to it, but that one isn't swappable for any of them.
Wallets: the keyring
A wallet doesn't really hold coins in it. It holds the keys that control an address on the chain. Your address is public, like a handle. Your private key and recovery phrase are secret, like the keys to your house.
A worked example: one shop visit
You walk in with a little SOL in a wallet. Here's what each thing means on the way out:
- You pay for a transaction, and a tiny fee in SOL goes to the network.
- A friend sends you some of a token. Your ten are identical to anyone else's ten.
- An artist sends you a one-off digital piece. That's an NFT, and only one address owns it at a time.
- Your wallet shows all three under one address, because it's holding the keys to that address, not the items themselves.
Prices move, a lot
Crypto prices can swing hard in a day. Nothing about them is guaranteed, and nobody can promise you where a price will go. If anyone does promise that, it's a red flag on its own.
The scam to know about
Because anybody can create a token with any name, a name proves nothing. Scammers make tokens and collections that borrow real projects' names and logos, then push them in replies and DMs.
The rule: an official address only counts if it's posted on the project's own website. Nothing official from Skate Labs is announced by DM.
How this connects to Skate Labs
Skate Labs is fully on Solana, and the Dash has an optional Solana wallet. But Global SKATE doesn't need a wallet, a coin or anything crypto. The account, the challenges, the games and the spots map are free. If you just want to skate, you can stop here.
Custodial vs self-custodial
There are two very different ways to hold crypto, and it's worth knowing which one you're using.
- Custodial: a company holds the keys for you, like a bank holds your money. You sign in with a password or a code, and if you get locked out, they can help you back in. The trade is that you're trusting them.
- Self-custodial: you hold the keys, usually through a recovery phrase. Nobody can freeze or take your stuff, but nobody can rescue you if you lose the phrase either.
Neither is automatically better. What matters is knowing which one you've got, so you know who to call when something goes wrong, and who never to give your phrase to (everybody).
Reading a wallet screen
Open almost any wallet and you'll see the same few things: your address at the top, a list of balances, and a history of transactions. The address is safe to share. The balances are just a view of what the chain says that address holds. The history is the same list anyone could see on an explorer. Nothing on that screen is secret except the keys behind it, which a wallet never shows unless you ask it to.
Common mistakes
- Using "crypto" to mean everything. Coin, token, NFT and wallet are different things.
- Trusting a token's name. Names can be copied. Addresses from official sites are what count.
- Thinking a wallet stores the items. It stores keys. The items live on the chain.
- Treating a price as a promise. Prices move both ways.
FAQ
Is SOL a token?
SOL is Solana's built-in coin. Tokens are made by programs running on top of the chain.
Do I need crypto to use Skate Labs?
No. Global SKATE is free and never needs a wallet.
Are all tokens worth something?
No. Anyone can make one, and many are worth nothing.
Is an NFT the art itself?
It's a record of a unique item and who owns it. Where the art file lives depends on how it was made.
Next: Coin vs token, the short version
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