It is a great pleasure to be part of your class Professor @awesononso. Thank you for teaching and this post of mine is an answer to the homework question that you ask us to do.

Question 1: Explain private and public Keys in relation to custodial and non-custodial wallets.

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Before we go into what private and public keys are talking about let us explain what custodial wallet and non-custodial wallet is all about.

A custodial wallet is a type of wallet where the third party has control over your funds in the wallets and the private key is kept by them, meanwhile you only can permit whether they should receive or send payment. Examples of custodial wallets are Coinbase, Binance, e.t.c

While

Non-custodial wallet deals with the wallet that you have full control of your funds by yourself. Not only that you have full control over your private keys also. Examples of Non-custodial wallets are Trezor, Ledger, Metamask, Exodus e.t.c

Private Keys

Private keys are types of keys that allow you to prove ownership of your funds and these private keys can come in many forms such as mnemonic phrase, 64 digit hexadecimal or 256 characters long binary code or QR code. The private keys are used both in a custodial and non-custodial wallet. In a custodial wallet, the private key is kept by the third party and login access is given to the user to permit the wallet to send tokens while in a non-custodial wallet the private key is used to send funds out of the wallet while the public key is used to receive funds into the wallet

Public Keys

This public key is usually paired with a private key and this key is used to receive funds during cryptocurrencies transactions. This public key that is used to receive transactions come in form of an address and can be freely shared with the public. When people send funds into your wallet using the public keys in a non-custodial wallet, the owner of the wallet will use the private key to unlock the funds and use it to prove that they are the owner of the funds received.

Question 2: What do you think about the Proof of Keys Day? What precautions would you take when participating?

Proof of Keys concepts was created by Trace Mayer with the desire to motivate investors to reclaim their monetary dependency. This concept has gone a long way in reducing the risk that comes with the exchanges having full control of investor funds because of their access to the private keys of the users.

Looking at a situation where exchanges get hacked, if you store your cryptocurrencies on the exchange with access to the private keys that the exchanges have already been, it becomes easy for the crypto access to be taken away by the hacker.

So encouraging the investor to move their tokens from exchanges to their wallets through the idea of creating a day to celebrate that initiative (Proof of Keys Day) is a good idea and this will further help to constantly create the awareness of the danger involved in keeping your funds on the exchanges and ownership of private keys.

When participating it is very important to take some precautions because the idea of withdrawing all funds from an exchange and keeping them in your wallet might just be harmful if you do not take precautions. So what are the precautions?

1. Ensure that the private key of your wallet is safe and secure not compromised already.
2. Before you move your funds from the exchanges, ensure that the wallet address that you want to use is safe and secure.
3. Examine your withdraw limit to be sure that you can withdraw all your funds before participating.
4. Always check your transactions using your transactions ID in a situation of network congestion
5. In a situation where you do not want the exchange to track your wallet address and identify it with your account then it is better to use a temporary address.

These are some of the precautions that are very important to take when participating in Proof of Keys

Question 3: Do you prefer Centralized exchanges or Decentralized wallets for storing your cryptocurrencies? Why?

Before I choose the one I prefer between centralised exchanges and decentralised wallets, let me explain centralized exchanges and decentralized wallets first

Centralized exchanges are exchange platforms that allow users to buy and sell cryptocurrency tokens. This type of exchange has a centralized wallet and also a third party which is the exchange that conducts the transactions and handles the crypto assets of the user. The third party also manage and handle the cryptocurrencies stored in the centralized wallet.

Decentralized wallets take away the third party and allow you to maintain and manage your wallet alone side with your cryptocurrency tokens stored on it.

For me, I prefer to store my cryptocurrencies on decentralized wallets in the sense that it allows me to have full control over my funds, it cannot easily become a prime target for hackers unlike centralized exchanges, and my decentralized wallet is not subjected to regulatory pressure from the government. I can keep any amount I want to keep on it.

Question 4a: Let us assume it is Proof of Keys Day: Transfer at least 20 Steem from your Binance wallet to your Steemit wallet.

First, let take a look at my STEEM wallets account.

I have zero liquid Steem and I want to send 21 STEEM from my Binance account to my Steem account.

Step 1: Opening of your Binance account

Open your Binance account and click on Wallet

Step 2: Click on Spot and then click on STEEM

Step 3: Click on Withdrawal, a withdrawal STEEM page will be displayed asking you to input your recipient's address, Memo, Amount. Type in your Steem account number; for me I will use dprogress, my memo will be Homework and the amount which is 21 then click on Withdrawal. Note my transaction fee is 0.01steem.

Step 4: A confirmation page will open, as you confirm the details of the STEEM you want to transfer. Click on Confirm

A verification page will open asking you to verify the transaction through your email and phone number. Click on send code and a unique numerical code will be sent to your mail and phone number, type it and click Submit

A notification showing that your request has been submitted will be displayed.

The withdrawal will be processed then a few minutes later it will be completed

Step 5: Finally, the STEEM sent will be reflected in my STEEM Account wallets. Note that it is showing 20.99 STEEM because the transaction fee of 0.1 was removed from the 21 STEEM that I sent.

Question 4b: Let us assume it is Proof of Keys DayTransfer at least 50 TRX from your Binance wallet to your TronLink wallet. (Provide Screenshots and make sure you have your Keys).

Ensure that you have your Binance exchange and Tronlink wallet accessible

Step 1: Opening of your Binance account

Open your Binance account and click on Wallet

Step 2: Click on Spot and then click on TRX

Step 3: Click on Withdrawal, the next page that will open will require you to input the address you want to send the TRX to.

Step 4: To get your TRX public key (address) from your Tronlink wallet.

Open your Tronlink account and click on TRX and then click on Recieve

Click on Cope the collection address

Step 5: Go back to your Binance account and paste the copied address and the specific amount of TRX you want to send. A transaction fee will be deducted then click on Withdrawal

Step 6: A confirmation page will be displayed. Click on Confirm. You will be asked to verify through your mail and phone number, click on send code and a numerical security token will be sent to your email and phone number for the verification. After inputting the security tokens, Click on Submit

The request will be submitted, process and after a few minutes or seconds will be completed

Step 7: Finally from my Tronlink wallet, the TRX I sent to the wallet is reflected there. Notice something that I was credited 59TRX because 1 TRX was removed out of the 60TRX and used for the transaction fee.

Question 5: In one statement, what is the major significance of the transfers in question 4.

It shows that I have full control of the cryptocurrency funds, keys and I can easily take part in a proof of keys day.

Conclusion

Proof of keys day is a very important day and had helped to remind investors that they are the owner of their private keys and should learn to take the owner of them.

This is the end of my homework. Thanks @awesononso