PRIVATE AND PUBLIC KEYS. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE AND WHAT IT IS USED FOR.
To store, receive, or send cryptocurrency, you need to have a cryptocurrency wallet address and access to this address.
In short, you need to know the public key (address) and the private key of the wallet where your cryptocurrency will be stored.
A public key is an alphanumeric sequence that is used as an address for receiving cryptocurrency.
Public key data (addresses) are not secret and can be transferred by one user to another to complete a cryptocurrency transaction. Cryptocurrency transaction — sending cryptocurrency from one address to another.
A private key is a unique combination of characters that provides access to cryptocurrencies stored in an account. Only the person who knows the private key can send cryptocurrency.
In the simplest case, the system itself generates a private key, after which a public key is created on its basis.
The public and private keys are alphanumeric combinations that are related to each other.
Moreover, this is a one-way connection — knowing the private key, you can find out the public one, but knowing the public key, you cannot find the private one.
✔️A private key is a complex cryptogram created by applying an encryption algorithm; it also serves as a signature when sending transactions.
It is theoretically possible to obtain a private key using a public key. Still, it will take hundreds of thousands or even millions of years of computer operation to determine the private key, which in reality makes this operation impossible.
That is, knowing the address (public key), you can see how much cryptocurrency is on it, but it will be impossible to spend cryptocurrency without a private key.
Many cryptocurrencies generate a new address to receive funds after each transaction and create a new private key, which must be recorded not to lose the cryptocurrency sent to this address. At the same time, making backups after each transaction is tiresome.
An algorithm was invented, using which a mnemonic phrase or seed phrase was generated to avoid creating permanent backups after each transaction.
✔️Mnemonic (seed-phrase) is a list of a sequence of words for generating private keys in a cryptocurrency wallet.
The seed is a sequence of 12, 18, or 24 words of the BIP39 standard for generating private keys in a cryptocurrency wallet.
The seed is no longer tied to any one cryptocurrency and is used to generate private keys for all cryptocurrencies in the wallet.
This standard contains a dictionary of 2048 words and protocols for generating keys BIP32–44–49–84–141.
With your wallet seed, you can access funds in almost any wallet app.
Accordingly, the reliability of storing the seed phrase is a top priority for a cryptocurrency user.
It is vital to keep your seed in a safe place.
Computers, external storage media, cloud storage, are not a safe place to store the seed phrase.
We recommend writing down your seed phrase on several pieces of paper and storing it in a safe place.
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