What ownership actually means.
WHAT OWNERSHIP IS
Possession of the private key that can authorise transactions from an address.
WHAT THAT MEANS
There is no account, no owner record, and no authority who can restore access.
WHAT A PRIVATE KEY IS
A very large random number.
WHAT A PUBLIC KEY IS
Derived from it, mathematically, in one direction only.
WHAT AN ADDRESS IS
Derived from the public key.
WHY THE ONE-DIRECTION PROPERTY MATTERS
The private key cannot be computed from the address or public key.
WHAT LOSING THE KEY MEANS
The funds are permanently inaccessible.
HOW MANY HAVE BEEN LOST THIS WAY
A substantial proportion of some networks' supply.
WHAT SHARING THE KEY MEANS
Whoever has it can take everything, immediately and irreversibly.
WHAT NOBODY LEGITIMATE WILL EVER ASK FOR
Your private key or recovery phrase.
WHAT ANY REQUEST FOR IT IS
An attempt to steal from you, without exception.
WHAT A RECOVERY PHRASE IS
A sequence of words encoding the key, readable and writable by hand.
WHAT IT IS EQUIVALENT TO
The key itself.
WHAT TO NEVER DO WITH IT
Photograph it Type it into anything other than your wallet Store it in a note or message Share it with anyone
