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Fundamental Cryptography Concepts Flashcards

7 cards from real CBP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

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  1. What is the secp256k1 curve's primary role in Bitcoin?

    Answer: It defines the elliptic curve parameters used for Bitcoin's public/private key pair generation and ECDSA signing

    secp256k1 is the specific elliptic curve standard Bitcoin uses, defining generator point G, prime field p, and order n for key generation and ECDSA.

  2. What does it mean when we say SHA-256 produces a 'fixed-length' output?

    Answer: Regardless of input size, SHA-256 always outputs exactly 256 bits (32 bytes)

    SHA-256 always produces a 256-bit output no matter the size of the input — a byte, a megabyte, or a gigabyte all produce the same-length hash.

  3. In Bitcoin, RIPEMD-160 is applied after SHA-256 when creating an address. Why is double-hashing used?

    Answer: SHA-256 provides strong collision resistance while RIPEMD-160 shortens the output to 160 bits for practical address sizes

    The combination SHA-256 → RIPEMD-160 (HASH160) reduces the public key to a 20-byte address while benefiting from both algorithms' security properties.

  4. What is a 'digital signature' in the context of Bitcoin transactions?

    Answer: Cryptographic proof created with a private key that authorizes spending of specific UTXOs

    A Bitcoin digital signature (ECDSA) proves the spender controls the private key corresponding to the address, authorizing the UTXO spend.

  5. Which term describes the scenario where changing even one character of input produces a completely different hash output?

    Answer: Avalanche effect

    The avalanche effect means small input changes cause large, unpredictable changes in the hash output, preventing attackers from deducing inputs from similar outputs.

  6. What is the generator point G in Bitcoin's elliptic curve cryptography?

    Answer: A predefined point on the secp256k1 curve used as the base for scalar multiplication to derive public keys

    G is a standard, publicly known base point on secp256k1; a public key is computed as k×G where k is the private key scalar.

  7. Why is it important that cryptographic hash functions are deterministic?

    Answer: The same input must always produce the same output so that signatures and addresses can be reliably verified

    Determinism is essential so that any node re-hashing a transaction or block header always gets the same result for consistent verification.