A popular options for keeping the bitcoins safely is a wallet. Unlike the physical wallets these wallets do not keep dollar bills or notes or coins instead they have two keys which help to keep every transaction involving bitcoins safe and secure. The article will explain what is a bitcoin wallet and why do we need it.
As we have told you the bitcoin wallet consists of two ‘keys’. The one of these key is something that every person dealing with bitcoins are familiar with and it is known as the public key it is the address of any particular bitcoin wallet and using this key others can transfer bitcoins to a particular account. But this public key is only one of the components of any Bitcoin transaction no transaction can be completed without the private key. This private key particular for each individual and only the person who owns the bitcoins has access to this key. When the two keys are put together is when a cryptocurrency transaction can be completed.
So the private key holds the all important information and if any body gets to know this private key they can easily withdraw funds from a particular account. So, one has to make sure that no one other than the rightful owner of the account gets to know the details of the private key. To avoid this it is advisable that one should not keep the details of the private keys online or in the computer hard drive. As these online wallet or hard-drive-based software wallets are vulnerable to attacks by hackers or malware which can get access to the keystrokes. It is also at risk if the PC gets stolen or the hard drive crashes.
A more secure alternative is paper wallet which can protect you from these possibilities.