BitcoinMadeClear

What can you share and what stays secret?

Share a receiving address when someone needs a payment destination. Keep private keys and recovery words secret because they can give access to spending.

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What will you learn?

  • Identify information a sender needs.
  • Explain why recovery information is sensitive.
What can you share and what stays secret?Address: Share with the sender. Private key: Keep spending authority secret. Recovery words: Keep the backup route secret.AddressShare with the senderPrivate keyKeep spending authority secretRecovery wordsKeep the backup route secret
Address: Share with the sender. Private key: Keep spending authority secret. Recovery words: Keep the backup route secret.

What is the idea?

A receiving address is a destination. A wallet can show it as text or as a QR code. Sharing that destination is different from giving someone the secret information used to approve a payment.

A private key is secret approval information. A digital signature lets other computers check an approval without seeing the key itself. Someone who gets the key may be able to spend the bitcoin it controls.

Many wallets use recovery words to rebuild spending keys. Those words are a backup route to access, rather than an ordinary password for a website. A device password can protect a particular device without removing another person's copy of recovery information.

If a service holds the keys, your login accesses its account. That is different from managing keys yourself. In either arrangement, know which information controls spending and which information merely identifies a destination.

Can you picture an example?

Imagine a friend asks for an address to send you bitcoin. They need the receiving destination. They do not need a private key or recovery words, even if a message claims those secrets are needed to finish the payment.

What do you remember?

Choose an answer for each question, then check your answers. You can try again. Your choices are not sent or stored by the quiz.

1. What does a sender need?
2. What is a private key used for?
3. Why protect recovery words?
4. Does a QR code guarantee the intended recipient?
5. If a service holds the keys, what does your login access?

Read the answers and explanations
  1. A receiving destination. An address gives a destination without revealing spending secrets.
  2. Approving spending. A wallet uses private key information to approve spending.
  3. They can rebuild keys. Recovery words can restore spending access in many wallets.
  4. No. A QR code carries destination information; it does not prove ownership.
  5. The service's account. An account login and direct control of spending keys are different things.
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