DeutschTo record cryptocurrencies and send them from a wallet, two keys are required. In technical jargon, these are called Public and Private Key. They are essential for sending cryptocurrencies from a digital wallet.
How Does Accessing a Wallet Work?
With a wallet, nowadays it is usually the case that two things must be known for access. One is the Public and Private Key, because both keys must be known in order to log into the wallet and send cryptocurrencies from there. In many respects, the public and private keys are comparable to the authorization system in online banking, because there, too, there is a kind of recipient address, namely your account number or IBAN, and a private key, namely your PIN or TANs.
What is the Public Key?
The Public Key, i.e. the public key, is very similar to the IBAN of your bank account. It is the public address of your wallet, which you can, for example, give to a payer who would like to send you a cryptocurrency. You do not have to keep the public key secret, but always specify it when a transaction of cryptocoins is to take place.
What is the Private Key?
In contrast to the public key, the Private Key must definitely be kept secret and is in principle comparable to a PIN or TAN in online banking. You should absolutely not tell anyone your private key, but you always need it when you want to send coins from your wallet. When the wallet is created, both the public and the private key are generated. If, for example, you have opted for a paper wallet, the private key is either included in the printout or you note it separately on a piece of paper.
Private Key Lost – What to Do?
As a rule, it is a big problem if you have lost your private key. In that case, you can no longer access your wallet, at least this is the case with numerous wallet types. With some wallets, however, there is a recovery option. For this you need certain authentication features, usually a certain sequence of numbers and letters, which still allows you to regain access despite the lost private key. In most cases, however, the loss of the private key is synonymous with the loss of access to the wallet and thus ultimately your coin holdings are no longer available.
