Cryptography

Cardano uses strong cryptographic primitives to securely create and send transactions, and to protect the security and integrity of the protocol.

Cardano utilizes asymmetric key pairs for:

• Signing and validating payments and staking certificates;

• Smart contract execution

• Multi-signature transactions

• Identifying and defining addresses on the Cardano blockchain

Key pairs include a public and a private key. By using their private key, users provide cryptographic proof that they indeed own the coins or assets they're using.

Cryptography also provides security for the consensus protocol. The two main mechanisms are:

• Node keys, which are used to register and operate stake pools, and are sub-divided into Operator/operational key, Key Evolving Signature (KES) key pairs, and Verifiable Random Function (VRF) keys; and

• Payment and stake credentials, which are used to authorize fund transfers or to delegate stake to stake pools. These may be either key hashes or script hashes.

  Learn more about Cardano's cryptography.