There are several terms that must be deeply understood for Ethereum wallets, otherwise they may cause the loss of blockchain assets, these terms are addresses, passwords, private keys, mnemonic phrases, and keystores.
If we take a bank account as an analogy, these five words correspond to the following contents:
Address = bank card number
Password = bank card password
Private key = bank card number + bank card password
Mnemonic phrase = bank card number + bank card password
Keystore + password = bank card number + bank card password
Keystore ≠ card number
1. Address
Address = bank card number
1. Generate
After creating a wallet, a 42-bit string starting with 0x will be generated, which is the wallet address, a wallet corresponds to a wallet address, and the address is unique and cannot be modified, which means that the transfer and receiving addresses of all tokens in a wallet are the same. For example, the transfer and receiving address for ETH in a wallet is the same as the transfer and receiving address for EOS. This is different from the trading platform, the transfer and receiving addresses of different tokens on the platform are generally different, so you must confirm the address before transferring coins to the trading platform.
2. Use
The wallet address can be used to receive transfers from others, or as a certificate of transfer.
2. Password
Password = bank card password
1. Setting
When creating a wallet, you need to set a password, which requires no less than 8 characters, and for security, it is best to set the password a little more complex. The password can be modified or reset, and there are two ways to change the password, one is to change the password directly, which requires entering the original password. If you forget your original password, import it into your wallet with your seed phrase or private key, and set a new password.
2. Use
There are two uses of passwords, one is the payment password when transferring money, and the other is the login password when importing wallets with keystore.
3. Characteristics
In the real world, a bank card only corresponds to one password, and after the password is changed, the original password loses its use. But in imToken wallet, it's different, a wallet can use different passwords on different mobile phones, independent of each other, and do not affect each other. For example, setting a password in Mobile Wallet A, importing this wallet on Mobile Phone B and setting a new password does not affect the password usage of Mobile Wallet A.
3. Private key
Private key = bank card number + bank card password
1. Export
After creating a wallet, enter the password to export the private key, which is a plaintext private key consisting of a 64-bit string, and a wallet has only one private key and cannot be modified.
2. Use
In the import wallet, enter the private key and set a password (without entering the original password), you can enter the wallet and have control of the wallet, and you can transfer the tokens in the wallet.
4. Mnemonic phrases
Mnemonic phrase = bank card number + bank card password
Mnemonic phrase = private key
1. Backup
After creating a wallet, a backup seed phrase function will appear, select the backup seed phrase, enter the password, 12 words will appear, there is a space between each word, this is the seed phrase, a wallet only has one seed phrase and cannot be modified.
2. Use
The mnemonic phrase is another form of private key, which has the same function as the private key, in the import wallet, enter the mnemonic phrase and set a password (without entering the original password), you can enter the wallet and have control of this wallet, and you can transfer the tokens in the wallet.
3. Characteristics
The mnemonic phrase can only be backed up once, and after backup, it will never be displayed in the wallet again, so be sure to copy it when backing up.
5. Keystore
keystore + password = bank card number + bank card password
Keystore ≠ card number
keystore=encryption private key
keystore + password = private key
1. Backup
There is a backup keystore function in the wallet, select the backup keystore, enter the password, and a large number of characters will appear, which is the keystore.
2. Use
In the import wallet, select the official wallet, enter the keystore and password, and you can enter the wallet. It should be noted that this password is the original password of this wallet set by this mobile phone, which is different from importing the wallet with a private key or mnemonic phrase.
3. Characteristics
Keystore belongs to the encrypted private key, which is closely related to the wallet password, after the wallet password is modified, the keystore will also change accordingly, when importing the wallet with keystore, you need to enter the password, this password is the wallet password when backing up the keystore, and it has nothing to do with the later password modification.
6. Conclusion
In the real world, if you lose your bank card and forget your password, you can go to the bank to help you retrieve it, and your money is still your money, and you can't lose it, which is the advantage of centralization.
But in the blockchain world, no one stores your wallet information except yourself, and if you lose your wallet information, no one can help you retrieve it, and neither can the wallet company. Therefore, as long as you protect your wallet information, the property in the wallet belongs only to you and no one can take it away, which is the advantage of decentralization.
1. Forget
What are the consequences if you forget your wallet information? There are several situations:
(1) If you forget the address, you can use the private key, mnemonic phrase, keystore + password, and import it into the wallet to retrieve it.
(2) If you forget your password, you can use your private key or mnemonic phrase to import your wallet to reset your password.
(3) If the password is forgotten and the private key and mnemonic phrase are not backed up, the password cannot be reset, and the tokens cannot be transferred, which is equivalent to losing control of the wallet.
(4) If you forget the password, the keystore will lose its function.
(5) Forgot the private key, as long as your wallet is not deleted and the password is not forgotten, you can export the private key.
You can use mnemonic phrases,
(7) If you forget your mnemonic phrase, you can import your wallet and re-back up your mnemonic phrase through the private key, keystore+ password.
(8) Keystore forgot, as long as your wallet is not deleted and the password is not forgotten, you can back up the keystore again.
mnemonic phrase,
As can be seen from the above, as long as there is a message in the "private key, mnemonic phrase, keystore + password", the wallet is there. Therefore, backing up the "private key, mnemonic phrase, Keystore + password" is the most important.
2. Leakage
It is important to back up your wallet information yourself, and it is also important to prevent wallet information from being leaked. What are the consequences if the wallet information is leaked? There are several situations:
(1) The address is leaked, it doesn't matter.
(2) It doesn't matter if the password is leaked.
(3) The address + password is leaked, as long as the phone is not lost, it doesn't matter.
Leaked, password didn't leak, it doesn't matter.
(5) keystore + password
If it leaks, others can enter the wallet and transfer the coins away.
If it leaks, others can enter the wallet and transfer the coins away.
As can be seen from the above, as long as a piece of information is leaked from the "private key, mnemonic phrase, Keystore + password", others have control of your wallet, and the coins in your wallet will be transferred by others. Therefore, the "private key, mnemonic phrase, Keystore+ password" must not be leaked, and once the possibility of leakage is found, the coins inside must be transferred immediately.
3. Backup
Since the "private key, mnemonic phrase, Keystore + password" is so important, the safest way to save it is:
Due to the large amount of Keystore content, it is inconvenient to copy by hand, and it is not safe to save it on the computer, so you can not back up the Keystore, only copying the private key and mnemonic phrase by hand is enough, and the following points should be paid attention to when copying the backup:
(1) Make a few more copies, put them in different safe areas, and tell your family.
(2) Verify the handwritten content and import it into the wallet to see if it can be successful to prevent copying errors.
(3) Do not disseminate backup information on networked devices, including email, QQ, WeChat, etc.
(4) Teach family members to operate wallets.
(Currently, imtoken has turned off the one-click direct investment function, so it is strongly discouraged to use imtoken now, otherwise you will need to reclaim the token.) Recommended myetherwallet.com. ）
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Posted on 2/25/2018 10:38:08 PM
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Landlord|
Posted on 4/14/2025 10:37:41 AM
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