Encryption is a key concept in Cryptography. 

In order to understand the process of how transactions are "signed", which is required to be able to spend your crypto assets, you need to be familiar with yhe concept of Encryption and the role it plays.

Cryptocurrencies make use of Encryption in a neat way, but in order to understand how it works, we must first learn about the conventional use of Encryption. 

In cryptography, Encryption is a technique used to protect the privacy of a message by transforming it into a form that can only be read by intended recipient.

Everyone else will see it as incoherent gobbledygook of random characters. 

Now, what is Encryption?

Encryption is the process of transforming data like readable text, known as "plaintext" using an algorithm called "cipher" to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a "key".

The results of the encypted text is known as "ciphertext".

In most basic sense,  encryption means using "fancy math" and a set of instructions followed by a computer ("algorithm ") to disguise and protect data.

For example, if you're sending a message and encrypting it, it is encoded in a format that can't be read or understood by an eavesdropper.

These algorithms scramble plaintext data into an incomprehensible text known as ciphertext, which looks like without the use of a special key that decrypts it.

Types of Encryption 

1. Symmetric Encryption; This type of Encryption is reciprocal,  meaning that the SAME keybis used to encrypt and decrypt data.

2. Asymmetric encryption; This type of encryption uses two SEPARATE keys for encryption and decryption.  A private key and a public key.