INTRODUCTION
Good day my fellow steemmate and all members of this great community. It is a thing of joy to be part of this community. The community of committed moderators and members, no doubt the sky is our limit.
Am here again with my beginners' fixed post task 9. I appreciate all professors who have been rating my work, your comments and suggestions keep improving my skills and knowledge. You are all wonderful.
HOMEWORK POST
QUESTION
(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.
We all know the importance of keys in cryptocurrency, expecially our private key, this is the key to our savings it like the the to once life. It Should be kept private at all time. Just as a country will not what to compromise the security of its central Bank where it currency are been printed, the same way an individual is expected to securely store their keys without a single compromise.
There have been various ways in which individual have been keeping or storing their keys.
As for me I store my key safely by writing it inside a special diary, ( this is different from my day to day activities diary) and securely safe the diary inside an iron box which is water and fire resistant and lock with padlock. With this I believe my keys are secure, even when I lost my phone am sure all my asset are very safe and secure.
There are presently 3 most used form of Private key in cryptocurrency, They are:
- Private Key(A string of alphanumeric characters)
- Mnemonic key(Seed)
- Keystore file(JSON File).
- Private Key: this are made up of numbers and alphabets which are randomly generated by advance form of cryptography. It is secure because they are randomly generated and no one could guess or predict those numbers and alphabets. This key help us to unlock all asset in the wallet. i.e no one can gain access to coin inside a wallet without the private key.
- Mnemonic seed: This form of Private key perform basically the same functions as the above private Key but consist of seeded words instead of the alphanumeric in the previous form. The seeded words are cryptographically generated from the the private key and public key. This form of Private key can consist of 12, 13, or 15 words as the case may be. The advantage of this seed is that someone can cram all the 12 word and safe it off hand.
- Keystore file (JSON File) This form of Private key is a bit different form the two keys. This key are to be downloaded on your device and securely safe with a password created by you. One advantages of keystore file is that it can't be used without the password you created yourselves, this made it secure. But you might also lose this key if the device was stolen or lost if not backup. This is a major disadvantage of JSON file.
How to download Tronlink wallet on Android phone and Store the keys
Downloading tronlink wallet on Android phone is supper easy. All we have to do is to open our play store app on our Android devices and search for tronlink app and install it.
Image below
After suçcessful installation, open and click on create account as seen below.
Then agree to users agreement. Next is to create a wallet name as seen below and click next.
The next step ask you to create password. Create a password and click next. Also confirm your password in the next screen.
Next is a preparatory screen asking you to get ready to backup your keys. Click backup now
The next screen show you a 12 word mnemonic seed. Write them down on a piece of paper as seen below.
Confirm it and open your wallet as seen below
Personally all keys are good on my side but I will prefer the mnemonic phrase or seed as it is easy to keep or safe. Example of it is below.
CONCLUSION
wallet is a very important issue in the world of cryptocurrency, all user must keep the key secure so as not to lose asset.
Thanks.
Note: All images and pictures used for this write-up are either created by me, snapped by my phone or screenshot from tronlink app which has no external link.