Cryptoacademy Season 4 Beginner's Course Task 9: Blockchain Wallet--Types, Uses, Installation etc

How Do You Store/Secure Your Keys? What Are The Different Forms Of Private Key(examples/screenshot)? Download And Install TronLink Wallet (Android/iOS/Extension)?How Do You Store The Keys(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 And Hide/Blur Sensitive Information

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How Do You Store/Secure Your Keys

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In a decentralized blockchain where we are solely in charge of our set of private keys the importance of keeping this said private keys secure can not be over-emphasize. Our private keys plays an important role without which we cannot not authorize transactions and if misplaced could lead to loss of assets. Our private keys in a decentralized blockchain plays a similar role to our local bank otp or password which will used to carry out transactions.

It is necessary that we keep this keys safe because unlike in our local bank where if we were to lose our pin there is always an option or some procedure to enable us recover our password both that is not the case in a decentralized blockchain technology, if at anytime we lose our keys we are at the same time forfeiting our authorization or right over our assets and can't be easily recovered like in our traditional financial system today.

With this in mind i believe that our keys should be stored properly and since informations stored online may have some risks of being hacked, to be on the safe side i would always suggest or would prefer an offline storage of my keys to make sure i alone can have access to it. So understanding the importance of my keys and the role it plays in showing proof of ownership of my account is a good reason why i would take care to make sure it is stored away safely by having a form of a notepad where i would take care to write it down and make sure to keep the book safe so it doesn't get lost or damaged as there is no remedy if it was to be lost.

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What Are The Different Forms Of Private Keys(examples/screenshot)

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PRIVATE KEY
This is the key that authorises transaction. With this key we gain free access to the assets in our wallets and when carrying out sending transactions this is the key that authorises it.

The private key is usually generated when we are first opening our blockchain wallet in no particular order ofcourse it is just generated randomly using cryptographic functions.

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Example Of A Private Key

MNEMONIC KEY
The Mnemonic key or phrase plays or perform almost the same function as the private key and is important to our blockchain wallet, in fact it plays a huge role because with our mnemonic key we can easily recover our wallets like everything both generating of new wallet address and resetting of password so this shows the value of this key to the blockchain wallet.

The Mnemonic key is not in the form of the private key in that unlike the private key it can be memorized because it is written in english characters and thus can be easily read and could be 12-24 words long and this mnemonic phrase is being generated using the Bip-39 which sets the guidelines on its creation, example of the format below

11111011 00010101 11111100 00011110 01000100 00011011 10110100 00110001 01000000 01111010 01010111 11101011 10000111 11111010 00011111 11011110

2008 1407 60 1089 1498 197 15
wild quiz always market robust board acid
599 1884 510 1087 1508
enough twist divert margin route

source

KEYSTORE FILE
A Keystore file is somewhat different from the other private keys in that sense that the keystore file alone does not make up a private key, rather the jason file and our password makes up a set of a private key. Yes, with our password and keystore file we have a private key which also performs similar functions like the other private keys in a blockchain wallet. And can be rightly use to recover our blockchain wallet as long as the jason file goes along with the password. Example of a keystore file below

source

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Download And Install TronLink Pro And Show Example Of How You Store Your Keys(Hint- Write it down on a notepad)

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Well i was using my android phone so that means to download tronlink pro i had to go to my google playstore which i did, i searched for tronLink pro and initiated the download at once.

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After downloading the app i opened it up and this was the first page i saw either to import a wallet or to create one. Well since i was interested in creating i clicked on create account.

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Then i was taken here to set my account name which i set as favrite. Yes favrite was the name i choose for my account.

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Then i was asked to choose or create a password as is normal when often creating a blockchain wallet, i set the password and was also asked to confirm the password which i did also

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I was taken to a page containing my mnemonic key and was told to store it in a safe place which i did by taking a note and puting it down. As shown 👇

Then i was asked to input the 12 phrase of the mnemonic key on the next page, the 12th and 4th to confirm that i had saved it in the right order which i did and then of course my account was successfully completed and created

I successfully completed the creation of my tronlink pro wallet.

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The Form Of Private Key I Am Most Comfortable Handling My TronLink Pro Wallet With

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Well all the keys in the blockchain wallet almost has the same role but of course we often tend to have our preference depending on the one we feel more comfortable using. It's true we can easily use any of the set of private keys in our account recovery but truth be told i really do prefer one much more than others.

Now i would rather prefer using the mnemonic key in the handling of my tronlink pro wallet because of the fact it is written in order in a way that is understandable to humans and not only is it orderly arranged but it is also english word, it can be read unlike other set of private keys that are a bunch of alphanumeric character created randomly or the jason file with goes with a password this mnemonic key can either be 12-24 words long which make it much easier for our brain to grasp and for one who knows his stuff he could easily memorised this keys but that can be hardly said for the private key or keystore file.

So i believe my preference is pretty clear and the reason for my choice is well understood.

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CONCLUSION

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In all the various forms of keys of the blockchain wallet is very important and should be guarded with the utmost care by us, since that is the only thing that authorises or a proof of ownership of the asset in our account we would not want to be careless and misplace our key since it is in our possession.

So i believe that that an offline storage of our key is a very nice approach which will help in ensuring the safety of our accounts.