Public & Private keys 🗝
💡 Daily Reminder: Stay humble, stack sats
Bitcoiners,
If you lose your Private Keys, you lose all your personal bitcoin forever.
There is no bank or any other institution in the middle holding your digital money for you.
Here is an overview of public and private keys so you can understand how bitcoin transactions work and understand the importance of securing your private keys.
Private Keys
Private Keys are like a bank account password that you never want to tell anyone about. Private keys give you access to your personal Bitcoin bank by allowing you to spend your bitcoin. If you have $100,000 worth of Bitcoin in your wallet, you probably do not want a friend to know your private keys. If your friend decides they do not want to be your friend anymore one day, they can steal all your Bitcoin in your personal Bitcoin bank by simply knowing your Private Keys.
Here is an example of what a Private Key looks like:
Bf234caccf80d9f5afdf8c82e4b2563e1b9eb97f1ef9ba9b506258839cb013db3
Public Keys
Public Keys are like a bank account number that you can tell other people about. A Public Key allows you to receive bitcoin transactions.
Here is an example of what a Public Key looks like:
20c6422d09485dd1fd2db55b9dffa23447d1c42b457062a1e97be25896559a8447
An address is a condensed version of your Public Key used to make payments easier. A bitcoin address starts with a 1, 3, or bc1. You provide your address to someone if you would like a payment in bitcoin sent to your personal Bitcoin bank.
Here is an example of what an address looks like (notice how it is shorter than the Public Key example above):
1PRoNLcWHzM8DuKpGE4YM9hb1PjSEnWRpn
Lastly, it is important to note that you can lose track of your address or Public Keys, but as long as you have your Private Keys, you can still recover your Public Keys and address. Never lose your Private Keys!
Happy Wednesday,
-Pod
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Eric Podwojski
Founder, Bitcoin EDU
Twitter: @epodrulz
Disclaimer: This should go without saying: This is not financial advice. This is not investment advice. I write this newsletter for education and entertainment. Act accordingly.
