How to get started with Bitcoin: Bitcoin's private key and address

As we mentioned in the previous article, there is one thing in the whole bitcoin system that plays a very important role, that is, the magic purse. About the wallet, it's so magical, then I am ready to introduce the next video in detail, before introducing the wallet, we first insert today's article, talk about Bitcoin key and account number, for the next article Wallet Grand appearance to do a foreshadowing.

First of all, let's recall what a magical wallet is. By the way, it can generate a lot of accounts according to need, what can prove that the money in this account is yours, that is, the password corresponding to this account. You only have the password of this account, you can use the money in this account. For the moment, we'll refer to a password and an account number of one by one corresponding to a password account.

Let's repeat what I just said and generate a lot of accounts as needed. From this sentence we derive two questions, first, as needed, when you need it. Is that when you want to trade, it is only two situations, or when someone else gives you money, or when you transfer money to others. This is well understood and you can think of a password account as a bank card. When someone gives you a bank card, you just have to tell someone about the bank card's account number, which is the bitcoin account. But when you want to give someone money, then you have to know the password, of course, Cary also have the balance, the corresponding Bitcoin system, you have to know the account number and the corresponding password, and the account must have the balance. Okay, the first question is solved, and the second question is how to generate an account. Imagine in real life, you want to have a Zhang Xin bank card must go to the bank, processing time will let you set a password. In the Bitcoin system this process is much simpler, but the order is not the same, is the first password, and then the account. In other words, you must first think of a password, and then according to a specific algorithm, automatically generate an account and password corresponding. Of course, the account of the new born city is no balance, as with the newly-run bank card. So the new bank card is no more useless, the key is that Cary has money.

Well, the above process should be well understood, and then we'll introduce the above process into the bitcoin system and say it in a professional terms.

Above we mentioned the password, in real life, the bank card password is a 6-digit number, that is, range from 000000 to 999999 of any number. In the bitcoin system, we call this password the private key. What is the value range of the private key? can be from 0 to 2 of any number between 256, 2 256 times in the end how much, how many options you have, you can roughly understand how many atoms on the earth, you have a number of password choices. In so many options, the Bitcoin purse relies on random randomness of the outside world, creating a private key randomly. Just like this, 0100110100101 ... 010001, a total of 256 bits, such a private key. So this is a binary number, computer world in this format ah, we humans can not remember Ah, so we will see the actual application, we will have many other forms of private key, such as a 64-bit string, or 16 words, or a sentence, and so on to represent the private key, This is the original private key to use a different encoding method to show the people we are using, to facilitate our memory. All you need to remember is that the private key is like a bone essence, it can have a variety of different external images and manifestations, but no matter what it becomes, it is still it.

OK, now the private key is generated. Next, according to the rules of the bitcoin system, we will put this private key, we note that as a small k, it passed through a cryptographic processing conversion, into another string of characters large k, we called K for the public key. And then through another cipher-specific transformation, the public key big K into another string A, the last string a, is the account, in the bitcoin system, we call it the address. The whole conversion process, from the small k to the large k to a process, is irreversible. You must distinguish it from the coded conversion of the private key above, which mentions that the private key can have various forms of expression, and that the various expressions can be transformed from one to the other, which is the conversion of the code. But our private key to the public key to address the conversion, is the conversion of cryptography, that is, the private key can get the public key, but not by the public key to the private key, can be the public key to get the address, but can not have the address to get the public key, he is a single direction, In addition, a private key, in any case, at different times, different locations, can only get the same public key, you can only get the same address, they are one by one corresponding. So, if we ignore the big K first, one of your private keys is converted to a particular address a. In this way, a private key and a corresponding address to match, it is similar to the real life in the open a bank card, and all this, you can do a key yourself oh.

Well, to learn this, you've learned to have the ability to open a new bank card indefinitely in the Bitcoin system, and now all you need is a tool, a Bitcoin wallet. We'll talk about it in the next article, so let's start with a couple of bank cards on the Bitcoin network, so stay tuned.

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