What is a Schnorr signature?

A Schnorr signature is a type of digital signature used to verify and authorise transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain. Think of a digital signature as an electronic version of a physical signature that is virtually impossible to fake. It was invented by Claus-Peter Schnorr, a German mathematician and cryptographer.

Each holder of a Bitcoin wallet owns a public key and private key. To receive Bitcoin, you share your public key with a sender. Your private key, on the other hand, enables you to send and transact with Bitcoin in your wallet. You wouldn’t want to share your private key with the network every time you transact as it would give people access to your wallet, which is why the two keys are completely different. 

A Schnorr signature ensures that the private and public keys are from the same wallet.