Think of your public key as your “deposit address,” and your private key as your “password” to access and manage your digital assets. Keeping your private key safe is crucial to protecting your funds from theft or loss.

Public key

This is a long string of random, unpredictable characters, and it is publically visible on the blockchain network. Anyone can send you cryptocurrency by using this public key.

The exact format of a public key can vary depending on the cryptocurrency and the type of wallet you’re using, but they are usually long, complex strings of characters that are unique to each user.

Example of a Bitcoin public key might look like this:

1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa

Or an Ethereum public key might look like this:

0x3f5CE5FBFe3E9af3971dD833D26bA9b5C936f0bE

Private key

This is a shorter, secret code that you use to access your wallet and authorize transactions. It is important to keep your private key secure, as anyone who has access to it can access and control your cryptocurrency.