The four most famous international exchanges:

Binance INTL	OKX INTL	Gate.io INTL	Huobi INTL
China Line　APP DL	China Line　APP DL	China Line　APP DL	China Line　APP DL

Note: The above exchange logo is the official website registration link, and the text is the APP download link.

Nowadays, blockchain has become an area of public concern, and many companies have already conducted in-depth research on the implementation of this technology. Many people also know that Bitcoin is a product of the blockchain, but there are still a large number of people who don’t know much about how Bitcoin is stored. Today, the editor will talk to you about Bitcoin addresses, private keys, and public keys. Although these three words are common, many people don’t know what they are, nor their specific connections.

**1. Bitcoin address**

Bitcoin address = bank card number

Among the three, Bitcoin wallet addresses are the most common. They are a combination of numbers and letters that look a bit like gibberish. The wallet address is like a bank card number and represents your Bitcoin account. Wallet addresses are available through exchanges, Bitcoin clients, and online wallets.

**2. Private key**

Private key = bank card number + bank card password

The private key is similar to a bank account password. Its essence is a random number. The private key is stored in the wallet file and is managed by the wallet software. People who download the client can find the private key in the wallet file. As long as you have a private key, it means that you own the corresponding Bitcoins and can use these Bitcoins, so it is very important to keep your private key.

**3. Public key**

So what is a public key? Let me give you an example: Suppose Xiao Ming wants to transfer a BTC to his girlfriend Xiao Hong. Xiao Ming needs to use the private key to sign the transaction, but how can others know that Xiao Ming has the right to this? What about the usage rights and ownership of BTC? How can other people judge whether the transaction is valid? When Xiao Ming uses his private key to sign the transaction, he will also send his public key. Everyone has seen Xiao Ming’s public key. If you use the key, you will know that Xiao Ming indeed owns the BTC and the transaction is valid.

**4. The relationship between Bitcoin address, public key and private key**

Bitcoin is built on cryptography, so its addresses are also anonymous and do not contain any information about the owner. Satoshi Nakamoto used the elliptic curve algorithm to first generate the private key and public key of Bitcoin, and then subjected the value of the public key to a series of digital signature operations to obtain the Bitcoin address we use.

Therefore, the public key can be deduced by knowing the private key, but this calculation is irreversible, which means that the private key cannot be deduced by knowing the public key.

The wallet address is a string derived from the public key after a series of operations. This process is also irreversible, and the public key cannot be calculated even if the address is known.

In the actual transaction process, we usually use the receiving interface of the Bitcoin wallet to directly generate the Bitcoin address. When transferring money, you can manually enter the recipient's transfer address, or you can complete the transaction by scanning the QR code of the recipient's address.

When using a wallet, there are several terms that must be deeply understood, otherwise it may cause the loss of blockchain assets. These terms are address, password, private key, mnemonic phrase, and keystore.

If we take a bank account as an analogy, the corresponding contents of these five words are as follows:

Address = bank card number

Password = bank card password

Private key = bank card number + bank card password

Mnemonic phrase = bank card number + bank card password

Keystore+password=bank card number+bank card password

Keystore ≠ bank card number

As long as there is information in "private key, mnemonic phrase, Keystore + password", the wallet is there. Therefore, it is most important to back up your "private key, mnemonic phrase, Keystore + password".

At the same time, as long as one piece of information "private key, mnemonic phrase, Keystore + password" is leaked, others will have control of your wallet, and the coins in your wallet will be transferred away by others. Therefore, the "private key, mnemonic phrase, Keystore + password" must not be leaked. Once the possibility of leakage is discovered, the coins inside must be transferred immediately.