“Private Key vs Public Key in Bitcoin: What’s the Clear Difference?”

[Mr k.]

So while I was reading, I discovered that To be able to receive Bitcoins, you need to have your own set of Keys.

From my understanding, These Keys in cryptocurrency serve as your account details in Traditional banks which you need to have before sending or receiving funds.
So I read that there are two types of Keys which are public and private keys.
And  For someone to send you some Bitcoin, you would first need to give the person your public keys.
When the person create his transaction, he would place your public key inside the lock on the output.
And when you want to send these Bitcoin, on to Someone else,  you would use your private key to unlock this output.

Now my questions are
1. Where can you get a public and private keys?
2. How do you unlock Bitcoin that are assigned to your public key?
3. What is The main difference between Public and private keys?

I'm asking this question because I was taking Wallet addresses to be same as My private key. Don't blame there are part of the reason you can call me Beginner in this space.

I need an expert to explain these for me in simple term

[notocactus]

Don't blame there are part of the reason you can call me Beginner in this space.

Don't try to be newbies since you registered this account in 2022 and only wake up recently.

This user recently woke up from a long period of inactivity.

Then use AI chat bot to spam for fishing merit.
Creating topics to teach while you need to learn.
Creating topics to ask questions like you are a newbie.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=trust;u=3451143

Maybe the AI ​​spammer tag will calm you down a little?  Mr. Kavod - this is your account, right?
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=trust;u=3743686

You won't receive merit for this thread. Good luck.  

[Hazink]

Wallet address is not the same as a private key and a public key is also not same as private key, you get wallet address generated through public key, and your private key is the security of your wallet, before it was public key which was used to receive transaction but for privacy reasons it was discouraged base on my knowledge, wallet address is like your bank account and the private key is like the access you need to withdraw from the bank account.

[Merit.s]

1. Where can you get a public and private keys?

Ypur private key is generated from your seed phrase, while your public key is generated from your private key. Both your private keys and public keys are inside your wallet.

2. How do you unlock Bitcoin that are assigned to your public key?

You do that with your private keys to create a signature to unlock the output.

3. What is The main difference between Public and private keys?

the public key is part of the private and the public key is hashed to generate a bitcoin address while the private key is used to unlock your bitcoin and if anyone has your private key, he can steal your coins.

Your private key gives you access to spend your bitcoin while your public key gives you the access to receive coins through the generated address from the public key hash.

[Charles-Tim]

1. Where can you get a public and private keys?
2. How do you unlock Bitcoin that are assigned to your public key?
3. What is The main difference between Public and private keys?

I'm asking this question because I was taking Wallet addresses to be same as My private key. Don't blame there are part of the reason you can call me Beginner in this space.

You can give people your bitcoin address which can be used to pay you bitcoin, but that is not private key. Do not give anyone your private key because it can be used to steal your coins. You can use the private key to recover your bitcoin wallet and spend the coins on the addresses the wallet generate.

Wallet these days are hierarchical deterministic (HD) wallets which generates seed phrase. The seed phrase can generate many child private keys, child public keys and their bitcoin addresses from bitcoin master private key. The child private key is what you are referring to. You may not see it on your wallet, but you can make use of Electrum if you want to see the privates key of each bitcoin address, or you can use https://iancoleman.io/bip39/ to generate a wallet and go through what it generates for you to understand. Most wallet these days may not reveal the private key.

I am not implying that you should use https://iancoleman.io/bip39/ to generate wallet for use but just to educate yourself.

[Jubilee58]

1. Where can you get a public and private keys?
2. How do you unlock Bitcoin that are assigned to your public key?
3. What is The main difference between Public and private keys?

I'm asking this question because I was taking Wallet addresses to be same as My private key. Don't blame there are part of the reason you can call me Beginner in this space.

You can give people your bitcoin address which can be used to pay you bitcoin, but that is not private key. Do not give anyone your private key because it can be used to steal your coins. You can use the private key to recover your bitcoin wallet and spend the coins on the addresses the wallet generate.

Wallet these days are hierarchical deterministic (HD) wallets which generates seed phrase. The seed phrase can generate many child private keys, child public keys and their bitcoin addresses from bitcoin master private key. The child private key is what you are referring to. You may not see it on your wallet, but you can make use of Electrum if you want to see the privates key of each bitcoin address, or you can use https://iancoleman.io/bip39/ to generate a wallet and go through what it generates for you to understand. Most wallet these days may not reveal the private key.

I am not implying that you should use https://iancoleman.io/bip39/ to generate wallet for use but just to educate yourself.

You are very correct, your private key is only known by the wallet owner and unless he or she exposes it , his or her Bitcoin asset remains intact . When you send your bitcoin address to someone, it doesn't compromise your wallet or investment because one can only gain access to your wallet when the person knows your private key. On this note, you are advised not to expose your private key to anyone because exposing your private to anyone or to the public is the only way your wallet, and your Bitcoin investment can be stolen or compromised.

[Lucius]

~snip~
You won't receive merit for this thread. Good luck.  

He may not get merits, but he will get answers to his questions (even from @Merit.s ), which are completely pointless as things stand. Do you think other members didn't/won't understand your post or they just don't care?

[Mr k.]

Wallet address is not the same as a private key and a public key is also not same as private key, you get wallet address generated through public key, and your private key is the security of your wallet, before it was public key which was used to receive transaction but for privacy reasons it was discouraged base on my knowledge, wallet address is like your bank account and the private key is like the access you need to withdraw from the bank account.

Thank you for the breakdown, I really appreciate your contribution you have reshape my understanding now from your point.

My wallet address is like my bank account and the private key is like the access i need to withdraw from the bank account.
That is great 👍 one there but Still need more light on the statement below.
My private key is the security of your wallet

~snip~
You won't receive merit for this thread. Good luck.  

He may not get merits, but he will get answers to his questions (even from @Merit.s ), which are completely pointless as things stand. Do you think other members didn't/won't understand your post or they just don't care?

I appreciate 🙏 you for the support,  honestly you clearly stated the aim of my post here which was for education but not just to earn merit as he said.
Leaders like you are what we need in this space once again thank you for the backup

[coinlary]

~snip~
You won't receive merit for this thread. Good luck.  

He may not get merits, but he will get answers to his questions (even from @Merit.s ), which are completely pointless as things stand. Do you think other members didn't/won't understand your post or they just don't care?

I appreciate 🙏 you for the support,  honestly you clearly stated the aim of my post here which was for education but not just to earn merit as he said.
Leaders like you are what we need in this space once again thank you for the backup

.
You have consecutive posts again,  always put every quote in a single post.

[odolvlobo]

First of all, confusion about the various terms makes learning difficult. I'm quoting the following thread to help clear up this confusion:

• Address: Bitcoins are sent to an address. An address is derived from its public key. It is not a public key or a wallet.
• Private Key: Used to control the bitcoins at an address. A private key is not a password or a seed phrase.
• Public Key: A public key is used in a transaction, and it is rarely seen elsewhere. A public key is derived from its private key. It is not an address.
• Wallet: A wallet contains and controls private keys and their associated addresses. A wallet is not an address. A wallet typically uses a seed phrase to generate its private keys.
• Seed/Mnemonic/Recovery Phrase: Used by a wallet to generate private keys and their associated addresses. A seed phrase is not a passphrase or a private key. A seed phrase is also known as a recovery phrase because all of a wallet's private keys and associated addresses are derived from it, and, every wallet will generate the same private keys and associated addresses if given the same recovery phrase.
• Passphrase/password: A passphrase is used to encrypt a wallet, private key, or other information. A passphrase is not a private key or a seed phrase. Sometimes a seed phrase can contain an extra word or phrase that is commonly called a passphrase, but it is not actually a passphrase.

Here are sets of terms that are frequently confused with each other:

• Public key <==> Address
• Address <==> Wallet
• Private key <==> Seed/Mnemonic/Recovery Phrase <==> Passphrase

Also, there is no such thing as a "wallet address" in Bitcoin.

From my understanding, These Keys in cryptocurrency serve as your account details in Traditional banks...

Bitcoin only has wallets. A wallet generates and stores private keys and the associated addresses. An account is what you have at an exchange or other custodian. It keeps track of how many bitcoins you have stored in their wallet.

...And  For someone to send you some Bitcoin, you would first need to give the person your public keys.

You are confusing "public key" with "address". In order for someone to send you bitcoins, you give them an address to send the bitcoins to.

1. Where can you get a public and private keys?

You download wallet software and it will generate the private keys and their associated addresses for you.

2. How do you unlock Bitcoin that are assigned to your public key?

You don't really unlock bitcoins, you just send them. Your wallet will have the private keys to the addresses in your wallet that hold the bitcoins that you have received.

3. What is The main difference between Public and private keys?

The private key is kept secret. Anyone that has the private key for an address can spend the bitcoins at that address. The use of the public key is complicated, but for users, the public key is used to create the address associated with the private key.

I'm asking this question because I was taking Wallet addresses to be same as My private key.

In short, an address is given to someone so they can send you bitcoins, and the private key allows you to send the bitcoins at that address to someone else.

[Ambatman]

I discovered that To be able to receive Bitcoins, you need to have your own set of Keys. 

You need keys to control your Bitcoin and address to receive.
I would advice reading what odolvlobo shared.

I appreciate 🙏 you for the support,  honestly you clearly stated the aim of my post here which was for education

Lol I don't think he was supporting you.

before it was public key which was used to receive transaction but for privacy reasons it was discouraged base on my knowledge

I believe you talking about P2PK
It transitioned to P2PKH because pubkey was too long and hashing the pubkey improves security.
Even now once a P2PKH is spent  the pubkey becomes public.

wallet address is like your bank account and the private key is like the access you need to withdraw from the bank account.

Well Bitcoin uses the UTXO model so I don't think the bank analogy really works.

Do you think other members didn't/won't understand your post or they just don't care?

They would but even if the intent may since I believe is assumptions seems wrong
There's nothing wrong with clarifying and giving insights since others could still benefit.

[EluguHcman]

From my understanding, These Keys in cryptocurrency serve as your account details in Traditional banks which you need to have before sending or receiving funds.
So I read that there are two types of Keys which are public and private keys.
And  For someone to send you some Bitcoin, you would first need to give the person your public keys.
When the person create his transaction, he would place your public key inside the lock on the output.
And when you want to send these Bitcoin, on to Someone else,  you would use your private key to unlock this output.

I may not get you correctly but my earnest contributes is that the Bitcoin sender will need the receivers wallet address to sign in message from their end to process the transactions successfully and securely  while the system detects the transactions are being executed by the assigned signatory user or owner of the account through the private keys which serves as the secret code  of the wallet handle.

It is also an supposed personal keys for security sake that it should not get reach to third parties because ones privacy is loses, security begins to be threatened.
Remember not your keys not your coin is not just an adage but really to let you know that your Bitcoin is best secured when you are custody of your funds and you keep highly privacy.

[Mia Chloe]

1. Where can you get a public and private keys?
2. How do you unlock Bitcoin that are assigned to your public key?
3. What is The main difference between Public and private keys?

First you need to understand how they are both related. Both are either directly or indirectly derived from your seed phrase  well in simple terms consider a vault with coins in it , your public key is  like the vault itself don't forget in that vault those coins are packed in bags you can consider those bags as addresses. But to access the vault you need the access code which is the private keys.

...And  For someone to send you some Bitcoin, you would first need to give the person your public keys.

You are confusing "public key" with "address". In order for someone to send you bitcoins, you give them an address to send the bitcoins to.

Yeah I think the OP is mixing them up nevertheless, old wallets back then allowed it but it was obviously a slash against privacy.

[Hyphen(-)]

Now my questions are
1. Where can you get a public and private keys?
2. How do you unlock Bitcoin that are assigned to your public key?
3. What is The main difference between Public and private keys?

I'm asking this question because I was taking Wallet addresses to be same as My private key. Don't blame there are part of the reason you can call me Beginner in this space.

I need an expert to explain these for me in simple term

The difference is very clear. You do get your account number and created your password or pin when you go to the bank to open an account. It is the same thing; when you tends to start and invest into Bitcoin fully, you will need a  wallet address which we mostly recommend non-custodial wallet which you will have more understanding of what public and private keys are.

But roughly, the public key is the wallet addresses generated from your private keys which you create in the course of creating your wallet, it is just like your bank pin you will need to facilitate any of your bank transactions.

I can see more explanation has been provided here; you can as well consult this book for more explanation on keys and  address, and also learn how Bitcoin transaction works and some basic knowledge about Bitcoin.

[odolvlobo]

Please read Important terms that are frequently confused to gain a better understanding of the terms before explaining them to other people.

The difference is very clear. You do get your account number and created your password or pin when you go to the bank to open an account. It is the same thing;

It is not the same thing. There are no accounts or account numbers in Bitcoin. Telling someone that an address is like a bank account and a private key is a password will mislead them into unknowingly giving up their privacy.

when you tends to start and invest into Bitcoin fully, you will need a  wallet address

A Bitcoin wallet does not have an address.

But roughly, the public key is the wallet addresses generated from your private keys which you create in the course of creating your wallet, it is just like your bank pin you will need to facilitate any of your bank transactions.

A public key is not an address. It is nothing like a bank pin.