<p>Wallet is also user friendly front end permitting better faster transaction without requiring Technical knowledge.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-19T11:25:00.227Z
2015-05-19T11:25:00.227Z
gooseling
<p>A wallet is the collection of data needed in order to receive and spend bitcoins. Usually this includes key-pairs (private key, public key and the address that may be inferred from the public key) and funds associated with each key-pair in the form of spendable outputs.</p>

<p>The client on the other hand is the interface to the network. It handles all the communication, updates the wallet with incoming funds and uses information from the wallet to sign outgoing transactions.</p>

<p>While theoretically the wallet could be implemented in a way that is client-agnostic, currently each client implements its own wallet format, blurring the distinction between wallet and client. There are however several projects that attempt to standardize the wallet format so that it can be used in several clients.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-01T14:06:17.627Z
What do u mean by acting as an interface to the network?
Cryptokahel 
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-02T15:12:43.873Z
I mean that the bitcoin client is actively talking to other peers in the network and managing publicly available information, whereas the wallet manages private information (i.e., private keys and it enumerates the outputs owned by those keys).
cdecker
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-13T09:54:39.920Z
2014-01-13T09:54:39.920Z
cdecker
<p>I would like to know what is the difference between a client and wallet.</p>

<wallet><client><terminology>
What's the difference between a bitcoin client and wallet?
Karah
# What's the difference between a bitcoin client and wallet?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-01-13)

I would like to know what is the difference between a client and wallet.

**Tags:** wallet, client, terminology


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-01-13. Score: 18 | Accepted answer

A wallet is the collection of data needed in order to receive and spend bitcoins. Usually this includes key-pairs (private key, public key and the address that may be inferred from the public key) and funds associated with each key-pair in the form of spendable outputs.

The client on the other hand is the interface to the network. It handles all the communication, updates the wallet with incoming funds and uses information from the wallet to sign outgoing transactions.

While theoretically the wallet could be implemented in a way that is client-agnostic, currently each client implements its own wallet format, blurring the distinction between wallet and client. There are however several projects that attempt to standardize the wallet format so that it can be used in several clients.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: What do u mean by acting as an interface to the network?  
> **username_2**: I mean that the bitcoin client is actively talking to other peers in the network and managing publicly available information, whereas the wallet manages private information (i.e., private keys and it enumerates the outputs owned by those keys).  

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### Answer by username_1 on 2015-05-19. Score: 0

Wallet is also user friendly front end permitting better faster transaction without requiring Technical knowledge.


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