# Private Key
A cryptographic key, essentially a large number, that within a given cryptosystem gives whoever posses it access the ability to generate a public key and address which is associated with a numerical quantity on a [blockchain](blockchain.md) known as a [wallet](wallet.md) and which imparts the capacity to transact in [cryptoasset](cryptoasset.md) associated with the public key's address. 

## References
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1. White, Molly. 2022. ‘Anonymous Cryptocurrency Wallets Are Not So Simple’. Molly White (blog). 12 February 2022. https://blog.mollywhite.net/anonymous-crypto-wallets/.
1. Bailey, Andrew M., Bradley Rettler, and Craig Warmke. 2021. ‘Philosophy, Politics, and Economics of Cryptocurrency II: The Moral Landscape of Monetary Design’. Philosophy Compass 16 (11): 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12784.
1. Harvey, John, and Ines Branco-Illodo. 2020. ‘Why Cryptocurrencies Want Privacy: A Review of Political Motivations and Branding Expressed in “Privacy Coin” Whitepapers’. Journal of Political Marketing 19 (1–2): 107–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2019.1652223.
1. Renwick, Robin, and Rob Gleasure. 2021. ‘Those Who Control the Code Control the Rules: How Different Perspectives of Privacy Are Being Written into the Code of Blockchain Systems’. Journal of Information Technology 36 (1): 16–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/0268396220944406.
1. West, Sarah Myers. 2018. ‘Cryptographic Imaginaries and the Networked Public’. Internet Policy Review 7 (2): 1–16. https://doi.org/10.14763/2018.2.792.