Hey All -
I started buying BTC about a month ago in a Coinbase account. I have transferred some of the BTC to Xapo...
I keep seeing people mention how important it is to not lose your private key. To write it down and put it in a safe deposit box.
What is the private key? Is it just my wallet address?
Thanks!
You don't have any bitcoins.
You have donated your bitcoins to a business called Xapo. Those bitcoins now belong to Xapo and they can do whatever they want with them. You have no control over what they do with your bitcoins.
In exchange for your donation, Xapo has provided you with an account on their website. They have given you a promise that they will send an amount of their bitcoins equivalent to your donation wherever you ask them to send to (assuming that the destination is not in violation of their terms of service). You have decided to believe this promise from them.
If Xapo gets shut down by the government, they may become unable to honor their promise to you.
If Xapo is hacked and loses control over a large number of their bitcoins, they may become unable to honor their promise to you.
If Xapo is run by incompetent people and they lose control over a large number of their bitcoins, they may become unable to honor their promise to you.
If Xapo has any criminals on staff that steal a large number of their bitcoins, they may become unable to honor their promise to you.
If you prefer to actually have bitcoins (instead of just a promise from a company that you have little access to and know very little about), you should consider installing bitcoin wallet software and having the bitcoins sent to your wallet.
Note that running your own wallet comes with it's own risks. Right now you are trusting Xapo to know more than you about how to secure the private keys against loss, theft, or destruction. If you run your own wallet, you are 100% responsible for keeping the private keys secure. If you lose access to the private keys (destroyed in a fire, tornado, earthquake, flood, hard drive crash, or simply misplaced,) or if they are stolen or copied by malware, then you will permanently loose access to your bitcoins with no way to recover them.