ATTENTION: Please NEVER use the sample character strings, words, and codes shown here, but rather those displayed by your own wallet and account.
A private key is your secret Bitcoin key—comparable to the PIN code on your debit card, only much more important.
Imagine a mailbox:
The public key is your mailbox address (selected people are allowed to know it).
The private key is the only key that can open it (absolutely secret!).
Technically speaking, the private key is the basis of your Bitcoin wallet. It is used to:
generate your public key
derive all your Bitcoin addresses
create an authorization to spend your Bitcoin
A private key can take various forms:
as a long string of characters (e.g., L4THXP4EDbc3s5Sw2UusEujQKp2kCrc77nWtjaWVRXQYkZF8LwwT)
as WIF format (Wallet Import Format)
as a hexadecimal number (e.g., D7D85DD9A987EBF2C6C18E79A83A0116EB9908F1C34A1CE40D37FEA136833DDF)
The most common form today is the recovery phrase (seed phrase):
12, 20, or 24 simple English words from a fixed word list in a specific order.
Here is an example:
witch
collapse
practice
feed
shame
open
despair
creek
road
again
ice
least
IMPORTANT:
Whoever has your private key has access to your Bitcoin. If you lose it, you lose your Bitcoin. NEVER share it with others!
The private key is your digital sovereignty. Treat it accordingly! 🔑