If you\u2019ve been on the internet for some time, you must have heard of the terms public and private keys. More specifically, if you\u2019ve talked about or used cryptocurrencies, you already know a bit about the public\/private key pair.<\/p>\n
What exactly are these keys and what are they used for?<\/p>\n
These \u201ckeys\u201d are basically strings of alphabets and numbers, and they\u2019re generally pretty large strings.<\/p>\n
They can look something like this:
\n5048 4241 00F9 18FC CR8D HB2D EFD7 FF37 39B9 H069<\/p>\n
They are used to send and receive messages. Whenever you use an application that\u2019s encrypted, it\u2019s got a public key (for the general public) and a private key (for the owner of the inbox).<\/p>\n
Keys work in just the same way as the mailbox in your home. Anyone who has access to the slot of the mailbox (the public key) can drop their letter in. But to open the mailbox and retrieve a letter, you need a special key \u2013 a private key, that\u2019s owned by you, the owner of the house.<\/p>\n
So as long as you have the public key, you can send a message.<\/p>\n
In terms of cryptocurrencies, you can send coins to a wallet if you have its public key. But only the owner of the wallet can actually open the wallet with their private key and see the contents.<\/p>\n
If you share your private key with anyone, they can open your wallet and steal your coins.<\/p>\n
To sum it up:<\/p>\n