What is a wallet?

In the world of blockchain, an essential term that comes up often is that of “wallet”. The wallet is much more than just a storage tool. To fully understand its importance and how it works, let’s explore its various aspects.

Each wallet contains two essential elements: a public key and a private key.

The public key is similar to a bank account number, allowing other users to send funds to the wallet. The private key is like the digital signature of the wallet owner, allowing them to access and control the funds associated with it.

The security of a wallet is largely based on cryptographic concepts. When a wallet is created, a pair of cryptographic keys is generated: a public key and a private key.

These keys are linked mathematically: what is encrypted with one can only be decrypted with the other.

The public key is used to generate a public address, which is shared with other users to receive funds. This address is generated from the public key using cryptographic hashing algorithms, which ensures that it is unique and secure.

On the other hand, the private key is kept secret by its owner and is used to digitally sign outgoing transactions. The security of the secret key is essential so that the user can maintain the integrity of their digital assets. If this secret key is lost or publicly revealed, what is in the wallet will be lost or emptied.

When a user wants to make a transaction, they digitally sign it with their private key, proving that they are the rightful owner of the funds.

Once a transaction is signed, it is broadcast to the blockchain network. Blockchain-operated consensus verifies the validity of the transaction by using the sender's public key to verify the digital signature. If the transaction is valid, it is grouped with other transactions to form a block.

Consensus then works to seal the block and add it to the blockchain. Once added, the block becomes part of the transaction history and the transaction becomes irreversible.

Asymmetric cryptography used in wallets guarantees the security and integrity of transactions.

Authentify It aims to be for the general public, so this complex management and knowledge of using a wallet is not possible for everyone.

Thanks to the Fireblocks solution, Authentify It is therefore able to manage its users' wallets in a custodial manner, to simplify the use of the blockchain for a user who is not educated on the subject.

The private keys of Authentify It users are not totally held by Authentify It himself. When a new wallet is created on Fireblocks for a user, the private key of this wallet is split into 3 different pieces.

• The first piece is held by Fireblocks

• The second piece is held by an SGX Azure Virtual Machine

• The last piece is held by Authentify IT

Each piece alone cannot carry out a transaction on behalf of a wallet. The 3 pieces must be united and for this reason, only a transaction which corresponds 100% to one of the Transaction Policies validated by a Quorum activates the grouping of the 3 pieces to sign it.