Asymmetric Encryption
a.k.a. Public-key cryptography, Public-key encryption
Cryptography that uses a matched pair of keys: a public one anyone can see and a private one only the owner holds.
Asymmetric encryption, also called public-key cryptography, uses two keys that work as a pair. What one key locks, only the other can unlock. You publish your public key to the world and guard your private key with your life.
It's like a postbox: anyone can drop a letter through the slot (encrypt with your public key), but only you have the key to open it. Crypto wallets mostly use the same maths the other way round, for signatures: you sign with your private key, and anyone can check the signature with your public key, proving the transaction is yours without ever revealing the secret.
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