GPG Encryption

GPG encryption refers to GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG or GPG), a free, open-source program that encrypts and digitally signs data using the OpenPGP standard. First released in 1999 as a free alternative to the commercial PGP software, it relies on public-key cryptography: each user has a public key that others use to encrypt messages to them or check their signatures, and a private key they keep secret to decrypt and sign. GPG is widely used to protect email and files and to prove that software has not been tampered with. In crypto, developers of wallets and node software such as Bitcoin Core publish GPG-signed lists of file hashes, so users can confirm that a download is genuine before installing it, a safeguard against fake wallets that steal funds. Its digital signatures work on the same principle as the signatures that authorize blockchain transactions, though with different algorithms.