What is a Public Key?

A public key is a piece of cryptographic code that allows users to receive cryptocurrency into their accounts. The tools needed to ensure the security of the crypto industry are both the public key and the private key.

The public key is created using asymmetric key cryptographic algorithms in public key cryptography. Public keys are used to encode data in an unreadable form. Decryption is performed with a unique but matching private key. Public and private keys are paired to ensure secure communication. In other words, a public key prevents unauthorized use of your data, while a private key is used to unlock it.

The public key can be shared with anyone the individual wishes to communicate with, while the private key must never be shared. The public key is often stored on a public key infrastructure server and is used to securely encrypt data before it is transmitted over the Internet.

What is a Public Key in Crypto and How does it Work

When a user makes his first transaction, a unique pair of public and private keys is generated. Each key is made up of a long string of alphanumeric characters that help secure a user's assets.

The private key is known only to you and acts as your digital ID. The private key grants the user the ability to withdraw, transfer or perform any other transaction from their account. To generate the public key, a complex algorithm is applied to the private key and both keys are stored in a digital wallet.

When a user initiates a transaction to transmit cryptocurrency to another person, the transaction must be transmitted to the network, where distributed nodes check the validity of the transaction before confirming it and recording it on the blockchain.

The transaction is digitally signed with the private key before being transmitted. The signature validates ownership of the private key while keeping the private key data confidential. Since a public key is created from a private key, the user's public key is used to prove that the digital signature was generated using their private key. After the transaction has been validated, the funds are transferred to the recipient's public address.

The public key was hashed to create the public address. The public key is compressed and reduced to form the public address because it is composed of a very long string of digits. Essentially, the private key generates the public key, which generates the public address.

When two users agree to send currencies to each other, they disclose their public addresses to each other. The public address works similarly to a bank account number. The sender requires the number in order to send coins to the recipient, who will subsequently be able to spend or withdraw the funds using his private key. The recipient can also use the sender's public address to verify the sender's batch of coins.

Public Key Risks

MitM (Man-in-the-middle) attacks can target public key encryption. The security certificate and public key encryption of a website are the two basic ways to trust its identity. If either of these is compromised, a malicious actor can insert itself into the connection between a user and a website and then seize any information transmitted between the two.

Since it is impossible to recreate the private key from the public key or address, if a user loses his private key, any cryptocurrency stored at his public address will be unreachable forever. A user who loses his public key, on the other hand, can have it reconstructed using the private key.

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