Not Your Keys, Not Your Coins.
Access Is Not Ownership.
Hey everyone, welcome back to Bitcoin Basics your no-nonsense source for all beginner topics in the world of Bitcoin. In today’s article, we are going to be breaking down one of the most famous phrases in the world of Bitcoin: “Not Your Keys, Not Your Coins.”
In the most simple form, it means that if you buy Bitcoin and leave it on an exchange without transferring it to a hardware wallet, you don’t have control over your own private keys and therefore, you don’t own your bitcoin!
Leaving bitcoin on an exchange requires you to trust someone else to keep your bitcoin safe for you. And that’s a big risk. A bitcoin exchange, no matter how big or how popular it has become, is always vulnerable to being hacked, going bankrupt, freezing your account, or even running away with your money. It has all happened before.
Bitcoin has revolutionized the financial landscape, offering decentralization, security, and financial autonomy. However, with great power comes great responsibility. This is why you should always store your bitcoin in a secure hardware wallet that only you have access to. In this video, we are going to discuss bitcoin private keys, self custody, and why it’s the best way to protect your digital assets.
What is the difference between Public and Private Keys?
When you create a bitcoin wallet, your private key is generated through cryptography, which is a method of ultra-secure math. The wallet software creates a private key and an associated 12 or 24-word seed phrase using a random number generator. The private key is a long and random string of letters and numbers that should be kept secret. Anyone who has access to your private key also has access to your bitcoin.
From the private key, the software produces a public key using a series of mathematical operations that can be…
