@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ Most bitcoin transactions require a valid digital signature to be included in th
((("keys and addresses", "overview of", "private key generation")))((("warnings and cautions", "private key protection")))A private key is simply a number, picked at random. In practice, and to make managing many keys easy, most bitcoin wallets generate a sequence of private keys from a single random _seed_, using a deterministic derivation algorithm. Simply put, a single random number is used to produce a repeatable sequence of seemingly random numbers that are used as private keys. This allows users to only backup the seed and be able to _derive_ all the keys they need from that seed.
Bitcoin, like many other cryptocurrencies and blockchains, uses _elliptic curves_ for security. In Bitcoin, elliptic curve multiplication on the _secp256k1_ elliptic curve is used as a _one-way function_. Simply put, the nature of elliptic curve math makes it trivial to calculate scalar multiplication of a point but impossible to calculate the inverse ("division", or "discrete logarithm").
Bitcoin, like many other cryptocurrencies and blockchains, uses _elliptic curves_ for security. In Bitcoin, elliptic curve multiplication on the _secp256k1_ elliptic curve is used as a _one-way function_. Simply put, the nature of elliptic curve math makes it trivial to calculate the scalar multiplication of a point but impossible to calculate the inverse ("division", or "discrete logarithm").
Each private key has a corresponding _public key_, which is calculated from the private key, using scalar multiplication on the elliptic curve. In simple terms, with a private key +k+, we can multiply it with a constant +G+ to produce a public key +K+:
Andreas M. Antonopoulos
3 years ago
committed by
GitHub