| Key takeaways |
| – The goal of public and private keys is to prove that a spent transaction was indeed signed by the owner of the funds, and was not forged. – When you own cryptocurrencies, what you really own is a “private key.” – Your “private key” unlocks the right for its owner to spend the associated cryptocurrencies. As it provides access to your cryptocurrencies, it should remain private. – You can have one or multiple public keys associated to every private key – It’s possible to recover the public key if you own the private key. However it’s impossible to find the private key using only the public key.(https://www.ledger.com/academy/blockchain/what-are-public-keys-and-private-keys) |
The concept of public and private keys
The general purpose of PKC is to enable secure, private communication using digital signatures in a public channel where there can be potentially malicious eavesdroppers. In the context of cryptocurrencies, the goal is to prove that a spent transaction was indeed signed by the owner of the funds, and was not forged, all occurring over a public blockchain network between peers.
When you own cryptocurrencies, what you really own is a “private key.” Your “private key” unlocks the right for its owner to spend the associated cryptocurrencies. As it provides access to your cryptocurrencies, it should – as the name suggests – remain private.
In addition to a private key, there is also a public key and there is a cryptographic link between the public key and the private key. It’s possible to recover the public key if you own the private key. However it’s impossible to find the private key using only the public key.
Public and private keys are subsequently analogous to an email address and password, respectively.
Alice can theoretically create billions of public keys (addresses) from her private key, which she only has one of and functions as her private password that only she knows — her secret. Once Alice creates a public key address, that address is publicly available to all users in the network as an address where they can send cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Only Alice can access the cryptocurrencies sent to that address since she has the corresponding key to the publicly available address. (https://www.ledger.com/academy/blockchain/what-are-public-keys-and-private-keys)