Search
Results for “Cryptography vs Encryption”
Cryptography
Cryptography is the use of mathematics to keep information secret, prove who created something and detect whether data was changed. In crypto, it is what lets a private key approve payments and lets every computer on the network check them without having to take anyone's word for it.
What it means for you. The network accepts any transaction correctly signed with your private key, whoever sends it, and rejects every other one. The mathematics cannot tell a thief from you, so the weak point is usually where the key is kept, not the cryptography itself.
Sources: NIST CSRC glossary: cryptography, NIST CSRC glossary: public key cryptography, NIST CSRC glossary: digital signature · checked 4 October 2026
Encryption
Encryption turns readable data into scrambled text, called ciphertext, that only someone with the right key can turn back. In crypto it protects things kept privately, such as a wallet file or backup, while Bitcoin and Ethereum transactions themselves are signed, not encrypted, and are public.
What it means for you. A wallet password usually encrypts the key stored on your device; it is not the key. Forget the password and the seed phrase can still restore the wallet; keep only an encrypted file without the seed phrase, and the password becomes the only way back. Anyone who copies that file can try guessing a weak password offline, without limits.
Sources: NIST CSRC glossary: encryption, NIST IR 8547 (initial public draft): Transition to Post-Quantum Cryptography Standards, NIST CSRC glossary: digital signature · checked 4 October 2026