What is a Wallet#
A wallet is one of the essential tools for entering the blockchain for young people.
The contents stored in the blockchain wallet are not encrypted assets, but addresses and private keys used to store account information, which can be simply understood as a bank card. They are just tools to manage your assets, and the real assets are still on the chain.
Concepts Related to Wallets#
Password
When creating a wallet (account), we generally need to set a password ourselves. The password has the following two functions:
• The password is required when transferring funds to others.
• When importing wallet information with a keystore, the password is also required. "Never tell anyone".
Wallet Address
After creating a wallet and entering the password, the system will generate a pair of keys for us, a public key and a private key. The wallet address is generated by the public key through calculation, mainly used for receiving payments, just like a bank account number, while the password is equivalent to a bank card password.
Private Key
After creating a wallet and entering the password, the system will generate a pair of keys for us, a public key and a private key. Each private key corresponds to a wallet address. Having the private key means you own the wallet, and a wallet address has only one private key that cannot be changed.
By entering the private key and setting a password (a new password, not the original one), you can access the wallet and own the assets in the wallet, allowing you to transfer the assets out of the wallet. Therefore, the private key is equivalent to the wallet address and password, and must be properly safeguarded. "Never tell anyone".
Mnemonic Phrase
As mentioned earlier, the private key is generated by cryptography and is a string of characters that are difficult for the human brain to remember. Therefore, the mnemonic phrase was created to help record and remember.
The mnemonic phrase consists of 12 words, with a space between each word. Like the private key, a wallet has only one set of mnemonic phrases that cannot be changed.
"Never tell anyone".
Keystore
The wallet has a backup Keystore function. By selecting backup Keystore, a JSON file will be downloaded, which is the Keystore.
When importing a wallet, as long as you enter the Keystore and password (the password for exporting the wallet), you can access the wallet. This is different from importing a wallet using a private key or mnemonic phrase, as the latter two do not require knowledge of the original "password" but directly reset the "password".
The Keystore can be understood as an encrypted private key, related to the wallet password. When the wallet password is changed, the Keystore also changes accordingly.