Your Lisk account is the place where you store LSK tokens. You will not be able to have self-custody of your LSK tokens without one.

Additionally, you will need an account to make any type of transaction on the Lisk Network. These include:

• Sending or Receiving LSK tokens
• Staking or Unstaking with validator(s)
• Registering a validator
• Registering a multi-signature address

There are many aspects of a Lisk account. For the purposes of this guide, we will only discuss two – the address and the 12-word mnemonic passphrase.

Address

A Lisk address consists of 41 characters, and always starts with ‘lsk’. This is a public address, and is therefore safe to share with others. You will need this address to receive funds into your account from any source (exchanges, friends, etc).

12-word Mnemonic Passphrase

Lisk accounts are secured via a 12-word Mnemonic Passphrase. This passphrase is required to log in to any Lisk wallet and make any transaction from your account.

It is of utmost importance to keep this passphrase safe and to not share it with anyone. If someone is able to access this passphrase, they can steal your funds. If this happens, your funds will be lost with no way to retrieve them.

As long as you have your passphrase, you will be able to access your account. It is also worth noting that your passphrase may be used interchangeably with different wallets. This means you can login to both Lisk Desktop and Lisk Mobile with the same account through your passphrase.

Lisk Mobile also has the added convenience of allowing biometric logins. This enables users to access limited features, such as checking account balances. Security is of the utmost importance, so your passphrase is still required for sending transactions.

Creating a new Lisk account is very simple. We will walk through creating an account on Lisk Desktop and Lisk Mobile separately.

Create an Account on Lisk Desktop

Click "Dashboard" in the left side column.

Click the "Sign In" button.

Click the "Create it now" link.

Select an avatar, and click the "Continue" button.

Save your 12 word passphrase, and click the "I wrote it down" button.

Confirm passphrase.

Done. You may now sign into your account with your 12 word passphrase.

Creating a Hardware Wallet Account

The aforementioned Lisk Desktop offers support for both Ledger Nano S and Ledger Nano X devices. Creating accounts for these devices goes beyond the scope of this guide.

For more information on how to create a Lisk account for your Ledger hardware wallet, read our Ledger Hardware Wallet User Guide.

Creating an Account on Lisk Mobile

1. Click the "Create it now" link at the bottom.
2. Read and Scroll through Account Creation tabs, then click the "Continue" button.
3. Save your 12 word passphrase, and click the "I wrote it down" button.
4. Confirm passphrase.
5. Done. You may now sign into your account with your 12 word passphrase.