An account is one of the most important entities in the SORA network. If you have an account then you can make transactions in SORA.
The account can be created in SORA for free without any limitations. SORA doesn't have a KYC (Know Your Customer) process nor a minimal balance limitation. You can also have as many accounts as you want.
The account is stored on-chain (in the blockchain) so that all operations are transparent and secure. The address format used in Substrate-based chains is SS58. The format contains an address type prefix that identifies an address as belonging to a specific network. The SORA network has the prefix 69. This means that all addresses start with the letters cn.
Prefixes are defined here.
It's important to understand that the different formats for different networks are merely different representations of the same public key in a private-public keypair generated by an address generation tool. This makes the addresses compatible across Substrate-based chains as long as you convert the format. For example, you can use the same keypair for SORA, Kusama, and Polkadot. However, the addresses will be different.
Most wallets generate a mnemonic phrase for users to back their wallets up and generate a private key from the mnemonic. If you generate a mnemonic you'll get a 12-word phrase that can be used for restoring the account.
We recommend using the SORA testnet for practice exercises. Here are the Testnet links:
The practice exercise shows how to create an account in three different ways. Whichever way you choose, you'll have the same result after importing an account to other platforms.
Use a Chrome or Firefox browser.
Download https://polkadot.js.org/extension/ browser extension and install
Open the extension and confirm that you understand the disclaimer.
Create the account. You should click on the + button
You'll see the mnemonic. Never share it with anyone and don't use the same one as the screenshot (this is just a demonstration, you will be assigned another). Keep this passphrase secure because it's the only way to restore your account.
