What are the view key and spend key in Monero?
Your Monero wallet has two important private keys: a view key, which helps you see payments sent to you, and a spend key, which lets you spend your XMR. Think of the view key as limited viewing access and the spend key as control over your money—but viewing access still exposes private financial information.
What your view key does
Monero hides payment details from the public. Someone cannot simply look up your wallet address and see your balance or payment history.
Your private view key lets wallet software scan the blockchain—the shared record of Monero transactions—and recognize incoming payments meant for you. Combined with your public wallet address, it can show the amounts of those payments.
This is useful if you want to:
- Check whether a mining payout reached your wallet.
- Watch incoming payments without keeping spending access on that device.
- Give an accountant limited access to incoming payment records.
The view key alone does not let someone spend your XMR. Still, do not treat it as harmless. Anyone with your address and private view key can inspect incoming payment information, including earlier payments, not just payments arriving after you share it.
What your spend key does
Your private spend key gives your wallet the authority to spend coins. Wallet software uses it to create the digital signatures that prove a payment is authorized.
Keep this key secret. Someone who obtains it can potentially take your funds. In many standard Monero wallets, the private view key is also derived from the private spend key, so exposing the spend key can expose viewing access too.
Your wallet usually handles these keys for you. You do not need to copy or enter them to receive mining payouts or make an ordinary transfer.
Your recovery seed—the backup words used to restore your wallet—is different from an individual key, but it deserves the same protection. It generally restores full wallet access. Never give it to a mining website, payout service, supposed support agent, or buyer.
Private keys are not your wallet address
Monero also has public view and spend keys. These are mathematically related to the private keys but do not grant the same access. Your standard wallet address contains public versions of these keys.
The similar names can be confusing, so focus on the word private:
- Wallet address: Share it so someone can pay you.
- Private view key: Share only if you deliberately want to reveal incoming payment information.
- Private spend key or recovery seed: Never share with another person or service.
A mining payout service needs your receiving address. It does not need either private key. A request for your spend key or seed to “unlock” a payout is a serious scam warning.
Why viewing access is not a complete account statement
A view-only wallet uses your address and private view key without your private spend key. It can detect incoming payments, but the view key alone cannot reliably tell whether those funds were later spent.
For accurate spent-status tracking, it needs extra information called key images, which your spending wallet can export. These identify whether particular received coins have been spent without giving permission to spend them.
For accounting or tax records, keep transaction exports and payout records too. Do not assume sharing a view key provides a complete financial history.
The bottom line
Use your address to receive XMR. Protect your view key as sensitive financial access, and protect your spend key and recovery seed as control over your money.
