Private/Public Key or no keys?

Question

Hi

I have created a blockchain and done couple of transactions without outrightly transaction with public or private keys. I just stumble on this link that talks about creating  the public/private keys and this has left me wondering, how have I been generating transactions and they have been impacting without me using a public/private key? Please could you explain?

Secondly, could you please clarify the difference between wallet address and public key? are they the same?

Navigating to the wallet.dat file, i can see the wallet address but i can't identify the provate key. Is it scramled?

Lastly. I created my block on a windows OS. I want to navigate to where the blockchain is located using windows and I went to the chain folder on the path \AppData\Roaming\MultiChain\demoChain. Could you please point me to the destination?

Many thanks

Answer 1

All blockchain transactions are based on private-public key pairs, so that other chain members can verify transactions, but only the appropriate party can create them. I recommend reading about this subject online, since it's true of all blockchains in general.

A wallet address is derived from a public key using a one-way hash function and acts as an identifier on the chain. You can also research this online in the context of bitcoin – it also applies to MultiChain.

You shouldn't try reading wallet.dat directly – instead, use various APIs to extract private/public keys and addresses.

That looks like the correct blockchain directory for Windows. The chain itself is stored in various files within that directory.