Create a new ETH account to transfer tokens using Web3JS

Question

I'm trying to create a new account using this script:

let account = web3.eth.accounts.create();

It will return me something like this:

{
address: "0xb8CE9ab6943e0eCED004cDe8e3bBed6568B2Fa01",
privateKey: "0x348ce564d427a3311b6536bbcff9390d69395b06ed6c486954e971d960fe8709",
signTransaction: function(tx){...},
sign: function(data){...},
encrypt: function(password){...}

}

So I'm having some questions:

1. Will I be able to use this account to send and receive token (via Metamask maybe) ?
2. What is the different between web3.eth.accounts.create() and web3.eth.personal.newAccount(password, [callback]) ?
3. Does Web3JS provide a way for us to automatically transfer and receive tokens ?

I'm new and really need some helps. Every answer will be highly appreciated. Thank u so much !!!

Answer 1

1- There are two types of Ethereum accounts:

• Externally owned accounts (EOA)
• Contract accounts

EOA accounts have a private key (which MUST be kept secret), Contract accounts on the other hand do not have any private key. The accounts that you make through Metamask or web3.js are of EOA type. As long as you have the private key of your account, you would be able to use it with the Metamask or any other web3 compatible Ethereum wallet.

2-web3.eth.accounts.create gives a source of entropy (optional) and creates a new EOA account, and returns the private key and public address of the created account.
According to this page:

The web3-eth-personal package allows you to interact with the Ethereum node’s accounts.

Apparently, your private key for the created account through web3.eth.personal.newAccount is made or kept somewhere on the node, so I personally NEVER EVER use it.

3- I don't know what you mean by automatically transferring or receiving tokens. For sending an ERC20 token, you typically need to sign and submit a transaction using your private key, which can be done through your web wallet or web3.js. For receiving ERC20 tokens, you need nothing to do.