Crypto Academy Season 3 Beginners' course - Task 6: Blockchain Wallet-- Types, Uses, Installation, etc.
Hello friends, hope you are all doing well. Today i am writing beginner level task 6 set by professor @sapwood which is about blockchain wallet and keys etc. I'll doing following task ;
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 based decentralised apps are secured by keys generated cryptogrpahically. Blockchain being a decentralized platform, there is no central authority to store keys to whom we can complain or seek restoration. So safe storage of keys is of utmost importance.
The most secure mode of storing keys is to write it down on a piece of paper and make multiple copies. Store all the copies separately. As it is an offline storage method and is therefore immune to web based attacks. However, there are chances that you may lose the piece of paper. That problem will be solved by making multiple copies of it and storing separately.
The other way is to store keys offline on a hardware device like pendrive, harddisk reserved for the same. Nowadays seprate sophisticated and secure hardware devices like Trezoe, Keepkey etc are available for safe storage of keys . However, in this case, we may have to bear the expenses of getting hardware device.
I prefer storing keys on paper. Initially, i used to store keys on web like google drive, email etc but with the passage of time, i realized the risks associated with online storage and shifted to offline mode.
What are the different forms of Private Key(Examples/Screenshot)?
Different forms of private keys are :
Private Key.
Mnemonic key(Seed)
Keystore file.
Private key
Private key is a string of alphanumeric characters that entitles a crypto user to the ownership of the asset. As the name implies, it should remain restricted to the owner of the wallet. It is used in signing the transactions of your wallet. So to send funds out of cryptowallet, we need reciepent's public key /address to which we have to send funds and our private key.
As blockchain is secured by cryptography . Private key is randomly generated cryptographic function.
Example of private key from blockchain demo.
69359005385548088007138328680231208316762416321230095749683464695966745804522
Mneumonic key (seed key) .
Mneumonic key or seed key is another type of private key. It is a combination of words which may be 12 , 15 18 21, 24 words long. It is also randomly generated. Here we need to pay attention to the sequence of the words provided. It is easy to memorise as compared to private key. With thr help of private key, we can perform various activities like :
- Signing of transactions.
- Restoration of wallet.
- Restoration of other keys.
- Export the addresses.
- Reset password of the wallet.
Menumomic key is generated by BIP-39 specifications. It is also randomly generated and the randomness required for its generation ramges from 128 -256 bits. More the randomness, more will be the size of Memumonic key.
Example ;
wild quiz always market robust board acid enough twist divert margin route
In the above, 12 word key, pay attention to sequence like wild is first word and route is 12th. We need to memories or better write it down sequentially.
Keystore file.
Keysfore file along with password that we set at the time of creating a wallet is another form of private key. Here we need to umderstand that we haven't took support of password in private and memumonic key. Keysfor file alone is not a private key. It is so with password. To put it simply , i would say , keystore comtains ciphered or encrypted form of private key that requires password to decrypt it to human readable form.
Example
crypto" : {
"cipher" : "aes-128-ctr",
"cipherparams" : {
"iv" : "83dbcc02d8ccb40e466191a123791e0e"
},
"ciphertext" : "d172bf743a674da9cdad04534d56926ef8358534d458fffccd4e6ad2fbde479c",
"kdf" : "scrypt",
"kdfparams" : {
"dklen" : 32,
"n" : 262144,
"r" : 1,
"p" : 8,
"salt" : "ab0c7876052600dd703518d6fc3fe8984592145b591fc8fb5c6d43190334ba19"
},
"mac" : "2103ac29920d71da29f15d75b4a16dbe95cfd7ff8faea1056c33131d846e3097"
},
The above example is ciphred text of private key of Etherium. It is not in readable format, so a password is required to decrypt it to reveal private key.
Download & Install TronLink Wallet(Android/iOS/Extension)?
Let me demonstrate it for Android platform. So we have to go to play store and search for TronLink pro Wallet and install it. Link is here
Click on create account . If you have an existing Tron account, you have to click on "import".
Let's try to create account . Click create and read user agreement and proceed by clicking next.
Set your username which should be between 1 to 14 characters long and click next step.
Set your password which must be atleast 8 characters with one uppercase, one lower case, and one number. Than click Next step.
We need to confirm the password by typing it again and click confirm.
Click on "backup now" to backup your mnemonic key.
Next write down 12 words of mneumonic key and click I have saved it .
Confirm your mneumonic key by typing the word which it asks. I was asked word at serial no 8 and 9 of mneumonic key. Click confirm and wallet is ready.
I stored keys on a notepad kept separately for storing keys. In addition i also stored keys on a separate peice of paper that i kept with my documents separately.
Which form of the key are you comfortable with to handle your TronLink Wallet? Include Screenshots & hide/blur the sensitive information.
Of the various keys provided, i am comfortable to use mnemonic key because it is easy to memorise unlike other keys. Morever, even if i need to type it, i am provided with suggestions. So it is easy and less time consuming. Private key is so randomly generated that each character demands lot of attention. Keystore file needs password to reveal the private key and than procedure for private key is repeated as above.
