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ECDSA
ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm) is the signature method Bitcoin and Ethereum accounts use to prove a transaction was approved by the right private key. It is built on the mathematics of elliptic curves, which allows short keys and short signatures.
What it means for you. Every ECDSA signature needs a fresh secret number. Wallet software that reuses or leaks that number lets anyone who sees the signatures calculate the private key. You cannot spot this from outside, so it comes down to the quality of the wallet software or device doing the signing.
Sources: NIST FIPS 186-5: Digital Signature Standard, RFC 6979: Deterministic usage of DSA and ECDSA, Bitcoin developer guide: transactions · checked 4 October 2026
Schnorr signature
A Schnorr signature is a type of digital signature, standardised for Bitcoin in BIP-340, that proves a private key approved a transaction. It uses the same curve as Bitcoin's older ECDSA signatures, is always 64 bytes, and lets several keys combine into one ordinary-looking signature.
What it means for you. Schnorr signatures apply only to Taproot outputs; coins held in older Bitcoin address types still sign with ECDSA. A Taproot payment approved by several people can look on chain like a payment from a single key, so a block explorer cannot always show how a coin was controlled.
Sources: BIP-340: Schnorr Signatures for secp256k1, BIP-341: Taproot · checked 4 October 2026