While the Hive Blockchain is continuously expanding and new users are onboarding this vast ecosystem, it is quite important to remember the purposes and utility of the Hive accounts private and public keys. Not your keys, not your crypto - we need to keep us in mind and that we have to understand how that works on Hive in order to keep all our assets secured and not make mistakes. Thus, I will try to dive into this and see what each of the Hive keys for our account is used for. We all interact with the blockchain in a different way and knowing what key is needed, when and where, will provide more insight and increase our trust that we are doing things the right way and now divulge any information that can harm ourselves.
To fully secure your Hive account and assets, it's essential to understand the four key types on Hive and their specific roles:
1. Owner Key
This is the most critical key, providing full control over your account, including the ability to change other keys. It should be kept offline and used sparingly, as a last resort for account recovery. That's like your key to the door and if you have a smart keylock with it you can reprogram the other keys. This could well mirror the saying "not your keys, not your crypto".
2. Active Key
This key manages high-level operations like transferring funds, powering up/down, and managing Hive Engine tokens. It's crucial for financial transactions and should be stored securely. When it comes to moving money in the form of crypto assets on the Hive blockchain, the active key is the one that will facilitate that.
3. Posting Key
The most frequently used key, this is for non-financial interactions like posting content, commenting, voting, and following others. It offers limited access to protect your account from unwanted transactions in case of a breach. When it comes to content interaction, without this key you wouldn't be able to do anything on the blockchain.
4. Memo Key
Used to encrypt and decrypt private messages and memos. It plays a less visible but vital role in ensuring communication on Hive remains secure. This approach has been chosen for example by InLeo to envision a Subscription system on the Hive blockchain where private content would be encrypted and only the subscribers getting the decryption key to view it.
Each key has a distinct purpose, so using the correct one ensures both security and convenience while interacting on the Hive blockchain. Understanding this keeps your assets safe and ensures your trust in the system remains intact.