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[[ch04_keys_addresses]]
== Introduction
== Keys, Addresses
You may have heard that bitcoin is based on _cryptography_, which is a branch of mathematics used extensively in computer security. Cryptography means secret writing but than just encryption. Cryptography can also be used to prove knowledge of a secret without revealing that secret (digital signatures), or prove the authenticity of data (digital fingerprints). These types of cryptographic proofs are the mathematical tools critical to bitcoin and used extensively in bitcoin applications. Ironically, encryption is not an important part of bitcoin, as its communications and transaction data are not encrypted and do not need to be encrypted to protect the funds. In this chapter we will introduce some of the cryptography used in bitcoin to control ownership of funds, in the form of keys, addresses and wallets.
=== Keys, Addresses
=== Introduction
((("bitcoin","establishing ownership of")))Ownership of bitcoin is established through _digital keys_, _bitcoin addresses_, and _digital signatures_. The digital keys are not actually stored in the network, but are instead created and stored by users in a file, or simple database, called a _wallet_. The digital keys in a user's wallet are completely independent of the bitcoin protocol and can be generated and managed by the user's wallet software without reference to the blockchain or access to the Internet. Keys enable many of the interesting properties of bitcoin, including de-centralized trust and control, ownership attestation, and the cryptographic-proof security model.