Private Key

A private key in the context of Bitcoin is a secret number that allows bitcoins to be spent. Every Bitcoin wallet contains one or more private keys, which are saved in the wallet file. The private keys are mathematically related to all Bitcoin addresses generated for the wallet.

 

In Bitcoin, a private key is a 256-bit number, which can be represented one of several ways. Here is a private key in hexadecimal - 256 bits in hexadecimal is 32 bytes, or 64 characters in the range 0-9 or A-F.

E9873D79C6D87DC0FB6A5778633389F4453213303DA61F20BD67FC233AA33262

Wallet Import format (WIF)

A WIF-encoded private key is a base58-encoded string that typically starts with the number "5" on the Bitcoin mainnet. It provides a way for users to easily import their private keys into Bitcoin wallet software without having to deal with the raw hexadecimal representation of the key.

 

5Kb8kLf9zgWQnogidDA76MzPL6TsZZY36hWXMssSzNydYXYB9KF

Wallet

A Bitcoin wallet is a collection of private keys but may also refer to client software used to manage those keys and to make transactions on the Bitcoin network.

 

Public Key

Public keys are visible to all users in the network, and sometimes even beyond the network too. Essentially, public keys act like an account number. They make each wallet uniquely identifiable to participants on the network. Like the private key, a public key is made up of a long sequence of numbers. Typically, it’s generated using the private key, but that’s not always the case. It also allows you to create something you’re probably more familiar with, a blockchain address. Usually, your blockchain address is just a hashed version of that public key.