Wallet is practically a set of keys that is stored directly or indirectly in the local node. It is important to note that this is a wallet functionality of a blockchain node, which might have similar functionalities as a mobile or web wallet, however the implementation might be a little bit different.
In an UTXO based system, a wallet stores the keys and a set of unspent transaction outputs that provide the possibility to read out balance without initiating a full blockchain search. In an account balance based system, a copy of the locally managed accounts are practical to store, with the corresponding private keys. This provides the possibility to read out balances or data in an efficient way. On the other hand, locally created but still not with the blokchain accounts have to be managed as well.
An account has the flowing data;
- Accounts: a list of extended account information is practical to be stored, meaning the basic account information with the private keys and some flag if they are fully synchronized with the blockchain. If the private keys are encrypted, further information might be required as well.
A minimum wallet should implement the further functionalities:
- CreateNewAccount: creating a new account locally, generating a new public private keys and calculating the necessary further information. The functionality might be implemented differently, if it is a random wallet, hierarchical wallet, or hierarchical deterministic wallet.
- ImportAccount: importing an account based on the private key.
- CreateAndSignTransaction: creating a new transaction which can be any type of a transaction like value transferring or data setting transaction. The transaction is signed by the private key of the related account might vary based on the type of the transaction. A value transferring transaction is signed by the private key of the sender address. After a successful signature, the transaction is broadcast ed into the network. A value setting transaction is signed by the private key of the account which value has to be set. The functionality might be separated into several sub-functionalities, like creation transaction, signing an existing transaction, and broadcasting into the network as three separated tasks.
- GetBalance: getting the balance of an account or of the whole wallet.
- BackupWallet: backing up the locally stored account information, especially the private keys.
- RestoreWallet: restoring the account based on the backed up information, especially on the private keys.
