Bitcoin Forum

I have been exploring cryptocurrency for about 2 weeks now and I have questions about private keys. I have been reading and some people say that when someone doesn't have his private keys, it means that he does not own his coins or his coins are not in safe hands, etc. May I ask what are private keys and where can I see it? I also want to ask if what are good measures to prevent stealing of someone's coins.

Follow up question: What are these set of words that wallets give me and what are its uses? Is it good to open a safety deposit box in a bank to keep a copy of these words for whatever its use? Thank you and have a great day.

If you don't know what a private keys are, private keys are in the context of Bitcoin is a secret number that allows bitcoins to be spent. If you want to know more about it, here is the LINk (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Private_key). If you are owning a wallet on blockchain.info, you must know what a private keys are and how important it is to you. If you handed your private keys to other people, you bitcoin is good as robbed.

Thank you. But may I ask, where do I get my private keys? I created a wallet in coinbase, xapo and exodus and I have trouble on where to find it.

A bitcoin address has two parts.

First part is the public one. You can share it anyway you like. You receive and send your coins from that address.

Second part is private. You don't share it. When you own that part, you can activate/use your bitcoins anywhere in the world.

Your funds on xapo or blockchain ain't yours. They don't give you your private key. Those coins  belong to those companies which i mentioned earlier but they give you the right to use those funds. Familiar eh? (Free hint; Banks)

Oh there it is. Now I understand how hot wallet works. So the basic thing would be if these wallets are for easy spending and those wallets that you have the private keys are for long, high value storage of coins. Thank you very much.

Good answer sir. So where we can get wallet online with private key? Because i am use online wallet and until now i dont find online wallet can use private key.

Thats the disadvantages of using web/online wallets instead of desktop wallets. Some of this web wallets dont have the feature to access the private keys thats why  you dont really own those bitcoin when you store it on web wallets its just like you entrusted your coins to those people/company you dont know.

Sort of, but not quite.  Web wallets are like an exchange in that all you have from them is a promise that they're going to let you spend the money that they're holding for you - it's an account, so in reality you don't own the Bitcoin, you're just letting someone else spend on your behalf.

The main alternative is a software wallet - this is a wallet that you download and hold on your computer.  One way to do this is by downloading Bitcoin Core, the official client, but that takes a lot of data and it's quite hard to keep running, so one of the best things you can do is create a lightweight wallet on Electrum or Multibit.  These are services in which you have full control over your private keys and they don't, but they hold the blockchain (public ledger keeping a record of transactions) on their own server so that you don't have to run it yourself.

An option which definitely is for storing large amounts is a hardware wallet - this is a separate machine that holds your Bitcoin on it.  The main reason to have these is because they're near immune to viruses and can be recovered without backing up the data (the TREZOR wallet is the most popular of these).

i don't knowwhat exodus is but i am assuming it is like the other two.
and these are not bitcoin wallets these are accounts you have created. and they control the private keys and won't give it to you. which is why people said to you before "if you don't have the private keys you don't have bitcoin". these sites that you have an account on control the private keys and your funds and just give you permission to use it and they can terminate that permission for any reason they want.

choose a bitcoin wallet (https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet go to desktop section) and that way you control the private keys and your funds will be in 100% your control.

There's no way you can get private keys from xapo and coinbase but on exudos as its a desktop wallet you have to open the app and press ctrl+left_shift+d and press Exodus/Developer/Assets/Bitcoin(what coin you want)/Export private keys and and some .csv will be created on your desktop including the public keys and its private keys.
Hope it helps.

This isn't true. You can manage your own private keys by using Coinbase's Vault and selecting advanced option. Here is an information link:

https://support.coinbase.com/customer/portal/articles/1612208-vault-faq

I highly recommend anyone interested in this topic and storing coins safely give that page a read.

Thanks for clearing that up. So Exodus qualifies as a software wallet since I downloaded it. I have put a passphrase and I have the 12 word backup phrase. Does this mean I am really the rightful owner of the coins that I have deposited in this wallet? And how do I keep these type of wallets from attack since these always need the internet for them to work. I am planning on purchasing hardware wallets but not at the moment since I am still starting on my exploration in cryptocurrency, and these wallets converted to my local currency is a about half a month's salary.


May I ask after I get my private keys, what do I do with it? I am still unclear on how to use these keys. After I get the .csv, is it possible to create my own paper wallets and treat it as my own bank? In the near future I am planning to keep the keys for sweeping in a bank vault.

Yes many people say like that. When we use online wallet it is like we give our bitcoin to another people. If something happen to thats online wallet there nothing we can do. Our bitcoin was gone.

You need to browse it very carefully, but im sure you will find private keys somewhere there.
You should remember that not every site provides your private keys, if it doesnt, then surely it is not a real wallet.

Crypto exchanges usually do not provide private keys, and that is the reason why you shouldn't store BTC there- because if they suspend a website, you will not be able to get access to your money.

Obviouslt, you can import/export your key, so it is not neccesary to transfer the funds to switch wallet- you can just export it to the other one e.g Electrum.

every newbie is told to go to blockchain or xapo to get a wallet

Serious question/request:
OK please tell me - I setup a wallet on my windows laptop, next happens:
 the harddisk crashes and no way to repair; how do I get my retirement money back ?

What steps do I need to take and what to do ?

I would tell every newbie to set up a hardware wallet like Electrum or Multibit or Core if you don't mind waiting half an hour every day while it synchronizes.
Hardware wallets keep your addresses in the cloud and allow you to access them with a password made of randomly generated phrases. You keep those phrases on a piece of paper and you're safe.

If your HD crashes, you'll need your phrases or if you're using a core client a wallet backup file. You install a new client, enter the phrases, or load the backup file, and you have it all back under control.

It takes less than 15 min to get it all set up on a new computer.

Because they know your private key and they create public key by your private key.
You can generate bitcoin addresses by specifically receive your newly generated private key. Then u decide where to use it.
Read more about bitcoin, it will help you :)

Download the Jaxx wallet and it will tell you to back up the seed phrase. 12 words that can restore the wallet or install it on another device. It has the same interface for everything, chrome, android, apple etc. It also supports multiple currencies so when you realize that BTC is chock full of problems and start to learn about alt's that have solved those problems you can hold all your coins in one wallet  ;)

Yes you can if you want to create a paper wallet. And you can import those private keys you exported to any desktop wallet like electrum. And to any smartphone wallet like mycelium or blockchain.info.

To "see" your private key you have to go in the debug mode.
Then, use the command dumpprivkey <public key>
Then the wallet give you your private key for this public key (address)
ou have to make this for each of your addresses.

  "Don't share your private keys or passwords. You have to share only your public address to receive coins, but never share your private keys or passwords with anyone. If you can avoid being online when you enter your private keys and passwords, that is even better."