Bitcoin Forum

1) Does every public key have a unique private key?
    Is the relationship of public to private keys 1:1 or many:1?
    If it is 1:1 then every time a transaction is made a new private key is generated and I have to back up my wallet.dat file!?


2) I plan on buying bitcoins on MtGox and sending them to ONE specific public address on my local wallet on multiple occasions.
    I assume that I can always send those coins to the same public address which in turn would be associated with one private key. Is this
    correct or does each transaction require a different public address?

3) Is there a maximum number of bitcoins that can be transacted at any one time?

Thanks in advance for everyone's help with these likely redundant questions.

For help with the first question, you should review the Wikipedia article on public-key cryptography (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography).  The relationship between private and public keys is 1:1.

You should keep a backup of your wallet that is kept up to date as you make transactions.

Your wallet.dat file has 100 keys. Back it up every 100 transactions.

For privacy, it's recommended that you don't re-use addresses. That doesn't mean you can't re-use them, though. You can use the same address as much as you want.

No, but there is a maximum number of bitcoins that can ever exist: 21 Million.

Thanks, that was a helpful link. I understood that there was a public-private relationship but never explicitly read that it was a 1:1 relationship.

i also thank for the link above. this is best explain i find of all places!