Newbie Sep 4, 2020 · 4 min learn
“Not your keys, not your cash” is a well-liked expression on this planet of cryptocurrencies – and a vital one at that. With out proudly owning your keys, you wouldn’t actually be accountable for your cash. Curious as to why? Nicely, we now have the reply for you – let’s dive into it.
What are “your keys”?
Just like a checking account quantity, cryptocurrencies are despatched to a receiving tackle. The technical time period for this tackle is the general public key. When somebody sends you some Bitcoin, they’ll ship it to your public key. It’s referred to as public, since you’ll be able to ship it to anybody with out compromising your crypto.
There may be, nonetheless, one other key that’s linked to your public key. That will be the personal key. This key’s completely important. Anybody that has entry to the personal key can entry the funds on the general public key that it’s linked to. In less complicated phrases a non-public key’s much like a password – a method of figuring out you because the true proprietor. When talking of “not your keys, not your cash”, it refers to your personal key.
The distinction between accessing and proudly owning your cash
When logging into your favourite alternate, it would seem to be you really personal the cash in your account. In spite of everything, you do have to log in to achieve entry to them, proper?
Flawed. It appears such as you’re in whole management of your property… till you attempt to withdraw extra cryptocurrencies than the platform permits – or decrease than a sure threshold. As a matter of reality, the alternate may take a minimize of any cryptocurrency transaction you make. They’ll fairly merely do that, because you don’t personal the personal keys to the crypto property in your account – they’ve them.
This phenomenon isn’t restricted to exchanges: it goes for any pockets supplier that doesn’t help you personal the keys to the related funds. In the event you don’t personal the personal keys, then you aren’t the true proprietor of the funds – you’d be entrusting a 3rd get together to it. Which means they basically can do no matter they need with the cryptocurrencies in your account.
Why does proudly owning my keys matter?
There’s a plethora of the explanation why you’d need to personal your keys, slightly than leaving it within the custody of a 3rd get together, requiring you to belief your funds to them.
The obvious is by accident entrusting it to malicious actors. Ought to you’ve trusted a malicious third get together together with your cash, you’ll doubtless by no means see it again. Fortunately that is fairly unlikely with established corporations.
Even then you’ll by no means be in whole management over your individual cash with them. As talked about beforehand, they’ll set sure restrictions like a most withdrawal restrict or charges related to utilizing their providers. They’ll resolve what you are able to do with your individual hard-earned cash. Additionally if their platform has any technical points, you’re principally locked out of your cryptocurrencies. Briefly: as long as you don’t personal your keys, you gained’t have monetary freedom and your funds stay at another person’s mercy.
On high of this, you gained’t have management over the safety of the platform’s system both – you’re outsourcing your cryptocurrency’s safety to them. Sadly over time, there have been main hacks which have amounted to round 2 billion {dollars} being stolen.
The other is true in case you personal your individual personal keys. By having the personal keys, you’ll be able to set your individual guidelines. There gained’t be anybody else telling you what you’ll be able to or can’t do with your individual cryptocurrencies. By having your individual keys, you totally personal your individual cash and might get pleasure from monetary freedom.
Having your individual keys does include an necessary accountability although: you have to be certain that you’ll be the one one to carry these personal keys. If anybody else manages to get their fingers on them, they’ll entry and take your cryptocurrencies.
That’s the place we are available.
Ledger: your keys, your cash, safe
At Ledger, we create {hardware} wallets to offer you the trail to monetary freedom with the very best stage of safety to your personal keys – thus your cryptocurrencies.
Our units retailer your personal keys with out ever exposing them to your laptop or smartphone. Which means even when somebody had been to hack your PC, they’d nonetheless not get entry to your valuable crypto property. We use solely essentially the most top-notch safe chips generally known as Safe Parts to even face up to extremely subtle bodily assaults on our {hardware} wallets.
By our {hardware} wallets, we offer peace of thoughts to our customers by providing an easy-to-use, accessible but safe resolution. Briefly: with our units, you continue to personal your keys, thus you securely personal your individual cash.
It doesn’t finish there although. With our expertly crafted software program, Ledger Stay, you not solely have full management over your property. We equally present a single platform for managing a number of cryptocurrencies, the place you’ll be able to straight purchase your favourite cash and even passively earn extra for sure ones by way of staking. All whereas retaining the excessive safety normal we’ve set for ourselves. Over time, Ledger Stay has grown to a central place to begin for anybody wanting to hitch the world of cryptocurrencies – and we’re nonetheless engaged on including much more thrilling new options.
Continue learning! In the event you get pleasure from attending to grips with crypto and blockchain, try our Faculty of Block video The best way to Maintain Your Crypto Protected.
