# What's a Private Key? Access to your wallet is secured through the use of the combination of public and private keys. The public key can be thought of as being similar to your credit card or bank account number, while the private key is the secret PIN/CVC code used to validate access. Derivation from private to public is a one way function, meaning that although deriving a public key from a private key will always yield the same result, the reverse operation is nearly impossible. Currently, the standard private key is a 256 bit hexadecimal number, which means there are 16^64 possible combinations. That is, about 115,792 followed by 73 zeros, or more than three times the amount of stars in the universe. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.revelator.com/wallet/security/whats-a-private-key.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.