Private Keys
By CoinGecko | Updated on Mar 03, 2020
In public-key cryptography - one of the basis of cryptocurrency, digital keys are generated from a large random number through a cryptograhic key generation program to produce a private key and public key. In such a system, anyone can encrypt a message using the receiver's public key, but that encrypted message can only be decrypted with the receiver's private key.
Private keys must be stored securely to maintain the safety of one's cryptocurrency. "not your keys, not your coins".
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Related Terms
Hashgraph
Hashgraph is a distributed ledger system that has been compared to the blockchain idea as a continuation or successor.
Merkle Tree
A Merkle tree is also known as a hash tree in cryptography. It is a tree where every lead node is labelled with cryptographic hash of a data block, and every non-leaf node is labelled with the hash of the labels of its child nodes. It is used to verify of data stored within it and transferable in and between computers.
Hashrate
Total processing power of a blockchain or what is the same, are the amount of hash values that can be made in a period of time.
Validator
A block-signing participant of a Proof of Stake blockchain network, whom have significant tokens staked on the network.
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