A bitcoin private key is a 64 alpha-numeric character, encrypted in different ways based on the digital wallet you use. Private keys serve as the gateway to your cryptocurrency holdings.
This private key is generated in different forms to make it difficult to hack and infiltrate.
A typical bitcoin private key could look like this: H9873D79C6D87DC0FB6A577863338953213303DA61F20BD67FC233AA33257.
How do I recover my lost Bitcoin private key?
Unfortunately, once you lose your bitcoin private keys, it becomes impossible to recover or get them back.
This means that your funds are lost and gone. You could compare your bitcoin private keys to a $100 bill inside your wallet.
Once that $100 bill is lost, it becomes virtually impossible to get it back or recover it.
Hopefully, in the future, the needed technology that would be able to recover the bitcoin private key will be invented making this challenge a thing of the past.
Key Takeaways
• Once you lose your bitcoin private key, you automatically lose access to your bitcoin holdings as this key cannot be recovered yet.
• The bitcoin private key works alongside the public key to enable you to make fast and efficient bitcoin transactions.
• Always endeavor to store your bitcoin private key in a safe and secure location making sure in particular that it is offline.
• The bitcoin private key is an alpha-numeric character and is customized to the particular wallet holding it.
SEE ALSO: How Many Digital Signatures Should My Crypto Wallet Have?
SEE ALSO: Differences Between Public Keys And Private Keys In Cryptocurrency
Having go through the basics, I will explain how you can keep your bitcoin private keys safe so that you don’t lose them.
A Look at the Bitcoin Private Key
Just as I stated earlier, the Bitcoin private key is a string of alphabets and numerals, formatted and encrypted based on the wallet housing it. Together with the public key, they serve to keep your bitcoin holdings safe and secure.
The private key serves as the password while the public key serves as the address and is responsible for conducting bitcoin transactions.
A private key is more like a firewall shielding your cryptocurrencies. Once hackers succeed in lowering this firewall or bypassing it, they instantly gain access to all of your bitcoin holdings.
Another importance of private keys is that they serve as a digital signature for transactions.
Whenever you make a bitcoin transaction, your public keys are examined with your private keys to make sure that there are no obvious irregularities. Once this is checked and satisfied, your transaction now becomes successful.
How to Properly Safeguard your Bitcoin Private Key
There are several ways that you can properly store your bitcoin private keys offline as storing your bitcoin private key offline is the safest thing to do.
Some of how you can do this are shown below:
1. On a Piece of Paper or Metal
This is one of the easiest ways to store your bitcoin private keys. You can easily write your private key down on a piece of paper but make sure you keep the paper safe and if possible, laminate it so that your private key does not become difficult to read due to wear and tear.
If you choose to write yours on a piece of metal instead, do well to keep it safe as well and be sure that the private key is well engraved on the piece of metal for easy recovery.
2. On a USB-Flash Drive
Storing your bitcoin private key on a flash drive is one of the safest ways to store your key, provided you don’t misplace the flash drive.
Once you decide to use this means to store your bitcoin private key, do well to make use of a new flash drive free from viruses and software malware.
The key can be written in a word document and then stored in the USB with password protection.
3. On a Hardware wallet
This particular type of wallet is an offline wallet that is used to store your bitcoin. It comes with it, a flash drive kind of device which it uses to safely store your bitcoin private keys.
Each time you want to undertake a bitcoin transaction, you will have to connect this device to your computer in other to gain access to your bitcoin holdings.
SEE ALSO: 7 Most Private Cryptocurrencies You Should Know
SEE ALSO: What is a Crypto Shielded Transaction?
Final Thoughts
Losing your bitcoin private key will automatically spell doom because you won’t be able to get it back. Hence, to avoid this, you must make use of one of the above-listed ways to safely and securely store your bitcoin private key.
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