Cryptography is like a way to protect info so only the right people can read or change it it’s been used for a long time even before computers to keep secrets safe basically it works by scrambling the data so if someone tries to read it without the key or password they just see a bunch of random letters or numbers but when you have the key you can decode it and see the actual info so it’s a big deal for security especially in things like blockchain and online stuff

there are different types of cryptography one is symmetric cryptography which means the same key is used to lock and unlock the info so both people have to have the same key but this can be risky because if someone steals the key they can access the info another type is asymmetric cryptography here you have two keys a public one and a private one the public key can be shared with anyone but only the private key can unlock the data this makes it more secure because even if someone gets the public key they can’t do much without the private key

in blockchain cryptography is super important because it keeps the data safe once info is added to a block cryptography makes sure no one can change it and it’s also used in creating digital signatures so people can prove they sent a transaction or piece of data without needing a central authority to say it’s legit so cryptography is like the backbone of security in a lot of digital systems.

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