Repost: Blockchain Wallet (Types, Uses, Installation) - Steemit Crypto Academy Season 5 - Homework Post For Task 9

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QUESTION(S)

Q 1.) How do you store/secure your keys? What are the different forms of private key (Examples/Screenshot)? Download & Install Tronlink Wallet (Android /iOS / Extension)? How do you store the key (Hint - write it down on a notepad, demonstrate it with examples)? Which form of the key are you comfortable with to handle your tronlink wallet? Include screenshots & (hide/ blur the sensitive information.

How Do You Store/Secure Your Keys?

Blockchain along side with decentralized applications is inherently annoymous , which means that details of users like name, signature, home address etc, are not required. It is so because Decentralized applications makes use of private and public keys. Therefore, the public key is normally an address in a string form which contains alphanumeric characters. While public key could be your password, mnemonic seed, or a string that contains alphanumeric characters too. You can share your public key to anyone as it is through it that another user on the decentralized application can interact with you, while, the private keys are meant to be kept and hidden away from anyone as its only the user that has full possessions of those keys.

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Blockchain technology is a relatively new type of technology and not too many users who uses the technology have the knowledge on how to handle their keys or wallet addresses. And because of that, most of them have fallen victims of scams and hackings. It is acknowledgeable and important that users learn how to secure their keys and wallet addresses. Cryptocurrencies can be lost once a user loses access to their keys or their private keys gets stolen, inorder to avoid a user from obscuring loses in his funds due to mishandling of the keys given to them, such a user needs to have a deep understanding on how to store the keys given to them.

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• One of the ways a user can secure their keys is by storing their keys half offline, which means that you store half of your keys on your email address. This method can be very secured and difficult for hackers to hack because once a stranger have access to the keys on the email , they cant tamper with your account because such hacker doesn't have the complete keys with him.

• Another way a user can use to secure the keys given to them is by storing them in a hardware like flash drive or an external drive. This is also one of the best means of storage because hardware is not being connected to the internet and cannot be prone or open to hacking.

• A user can store their keys by writing them down on a paper and laminate it. With this method, the keys are kept safe in the possession of the user. In addition to this, a user can as well go to bank and store those keys in a safe deposit box. With this also the user can be rest assured that the the keys are secured in a safe environment.

• Storing of keys in cloud service platforms like Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive etc, can also be one of the ways of securing a private keys. These services are digital storage platform where data can be stored on them and then in the cloud. This means of storing the keys can help in securing also their digital assets.

• The last way to store the keys provided to a user are through storage on a CD (compact disk). A compact disk has the capability to store different types of data in it, the private key of a user I one of them also. So , to achieve this, you save the keys as a file that the compact disk can accept.

What Are The Different Forms Of Private Key (Examples/screenshot)?

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Once a user gets registered on a decentralized application, a public key snd a private key are automatically generated and given to them. The private key comes in different forms, which includes; A String that contains Alphanumeric Characters, Mnemonic seed, and the Keystore file. Let's look into them:

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String With Alphanumeric Characters:

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The string form of private keys is made up of alphanumeric characters. Therefore, the alphanumeric characters are made from the hexadecimal numbering system or the base of 16 system to represent long binary values of characters. This is simply because their format is really compact and very much comfortable to operate with long binary strings of 1's and 0's. This numbering system uses 16 different digits with a combination of numbers and alphabet from 0-9 and from A-F. And they are been created at random using cryptography when a new user creates a wallet in a decentralized application.

Our steemit keys can serve as an example of a string which is been given to us to enable us operate on the steemit platform in different ways which comes in different types such as the Active key, Posting key, Owner key etc. Here below is an example of a string.

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Mnemonic Seed:

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A mnemonic phrase is the group of secret words that are gathered together and presented to a user during registration which allows the user to view the platform, which is usually an online wallet. They are called "Recovery Phrase". They are been arranged accordingly or in sequence, so when users make use of it by putting it in order, the user will be successfully created an account and gain access to the wallet. The group of words found in a recovery phrase can be 12 or more but no 16 words. The main reason it's been called a recovery or a backup phrase is that it helps users to gain access to their wallets when the computer holding the wallets crashes or gets stolen.

Wallet services like Tronlink, Metamask, Trustwallet etc, makes use of mnemonic as a form of private keys given to users. An example of a mnemonic key is shown below;

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The Keystore File:

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A Keystore file is an encrypted private key that are been generated with the user's private key and a password given to the user to encrypt it. When the Keystore file is opened in a text editor, the data that is contained there colllides to the encryption that is done for the private key, which is sometimes called a UTC. The file extension used for a Keystore file is .json. Keystore file system mostly permit users to store their private keys in a "container" inorder for it to be difficult for extraction from the device that has the container. It is a file that needs to be uploaded online and type in your password to unlock the file.
Below shows the examples of Keystore file:

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Download & Install Tronlink Wallet (Android/iOS/Extension)?

To start up the process of downloading and installing the Tronlink Wallet, you have to first visit the website Tronlink

Step № 1:

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Once you have visited the Tronlink website, on the home page that appears click on Browser Extension, then click on chrome web store. If youre using a mobile device you can use or click on the Android, iOS or Huawei Harmony to start up the process.

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Step № 2:

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After clicking on chrome web store, it will take you to a page where you will have to install the application on your browser. Click on "Add to chrome"(browser).

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Step № 3:

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Next, a page will display seeking your consent to install the app, click on ok and at this time it will be checking as shown in the screenshot below..

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Step № 4:

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When the checking is been completed in a few minutes time, it will show that the Tronlink application have been added to your browser. Should Incase you obscure any issue in installing the extension, you can click on remove from chrome and start all over.

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Step № 5:

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Therefore after, a sequence of steps would follow in order to create a tronlink wallet account.
Firstly,I clicked on the application showing my Tronlink extension.

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Secondly, I created a new account by clicking on create, which is the first option provided.

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Thirdly, I input my password and clicked on continue

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Fourthly, In this step , a mnemonic seed would appear after you have clicked on continue. And you are meant to write it down and store very well and then used to confirm the mnemonic seed on the next page.

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Fifthly, You input the mnemonic seed phrase you copied down into the space provided, you copy them in order just the way it is presented. After that click on confirm, once you have done so successfully your tronlink wallet is now created successfully.

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Sixthly, Once you have done so successfully, your tronlink wallet is now created ass showned invthe screenshot below with my wallet name and wallet addresses under my name.

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How Do You Store The key (Hint-write it down on a notepad, demonstrate it with examples)?

In this section, I will perform some illustrations using some of the storage techniques mentioned previously. While I was installing the tronlink wallet, I was given a mnemonic seed to use and create my Tronlink Wallet. Below is how I will store it.

This is an image screenshot of the original mnemonic seed given to me. So I copied it out and store it in my devices like my computer system, email box as draft and cloud storage software. For now I have no external hardware like flash drive but ss soon as I get one i will surely store them there.

screenshot from my notepad

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Above is another image showing a mnemonic seed but stored on a notepad. I copied and pasted the seed phrase from the original source in to my notepad.

screenshot from my note book

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Lastly, I wrote down the seed phrase on my note book . This particular one follows me wherever I go. I also napped and stored it ob my different devices.

Which Form Of The key Are You Comfortable With To Handle Your Tronlink Wallet? Include Screenshots & Hide /Blur The Sensitive Information

Having looked at the string with alphanumeric characters and the mnemonic seed forms are the most common and easiest way to use ans store keys.

From the tronlink wallet, we are given two keys which are, the wallet address which I inform of a string with alphanumeric characters and the mnemonic seed which is used for the creation of account. As you can see the wallet address is not that important as it's always there on your tronlink wallet whenever you're logged in. And if you like to send it to someone, you can always copy it from the wallet and give it to the person you want to send it to.

So therefore, it is the mnemonic seed phrase that is of great importance here and I'm also very comfortable handling it, as i have been able to store it in different ways I could.

Conclusion:

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The traditional applications which are centralized entails that a user have to give out details of their identity which includes their name, and signature. Meanwhile, in decentralized applications, a user is given a public key and a private key. These keys comes in different forms but they importantly act as the wallet address (account) and the access to operate the state of the wallet (signature). And because decentralized applications are being operated differently, It is of a great importance that users store the keys given unto them in a very safe place.

Thanks For Reading!!!

prof @dilchamo here's my repost