A private key is a key that provides access to a wallet, similar to a password.

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A wallet is on the blockchain and is used to store coins. This is similar to a bank account with an important difference, namely that the wallet on the blockchain is public. The wallet address (public key) is visible to everyone, as is the contents of the wallet. However, the private key is only for the owner of a wallet and must therefore be kept properly.

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A private key is almost never handled by the user; instead, the user usually gets a seed phrase either recovery phrase that encrypts the same information as a private key.