Crypto Wallet First-Time Setup, Walked Through
The first few minutes of using any self-custody wallet decide how well the rest of it goes, so it's worth knowing exactly what should happen.
Setup for BMIC asks for nothing about you personally -- no email or personal detail is required just to generate a wallet. It generates your key pair on your own device, not on a server.
It then shows your seed phrase exactly once, and asks you to confirm you've recorded it before letting you continue. This is the single most important moment in the entire setup -- see the private-key recovery page in this series for how to record it properly.
From there, the home screen shows one thing: your balance, read live from the public blockchain. There is no separate account to log into beyond the wallet itself -- the keys you just generated are the account. That's the entire first-run experience, deliberately short.
FAQ
Does setup require an email or phone number?
No. Generating a wallet requires no personal detail.
Why does the seed phrase only show once?
To minimise how long it's ever displayed on screen -- you should record it immediately and store it offline, not rely on being able to view it again later.
Is there a separate password to remember?
The wallet's keys are the account -- there's no separate login credential beyond having access to the wallet itself and, for recovery, the seed phrase.
What if I skip recording the seed phrase?
You can still use the wallet, but you take on full risk of losing access permanently if the device is ever lost, since there's no other recovery path.