Private Key Btc

Private Key Btc

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This page contains sample addresses and/or private keys. Do not send bitcoins to or import any sample keys; you will lose your money.
A private key in the context of Bitcoin is a secret number that allows bitcoins to be spent.
Every Bitcoin wallet contains one or more private keys, which are saved in the wallet file.
The private keys are mathematically related to all Bitcoin addresses generated for the wallet.

Because the private key is the "ticket" that allows someone to spend bitcoins, it is important that these are kept secret and safe.
Private keys can be kept on computer files, but are also often written on paper .

Private keys themselves are almost never handled by the user, instead the user will typically be given a seed phrase that encodes the same information as private keys.

Some wallets allow private keys to be imported without generating any transactions while other wallets or services require that the private key be swept.
When a private key is swept, a transaction is broadcast that sends the balance controlled by the private key to a new address in the wallet.
Just as with any other transaction, there is risk of swept transactions to be double-spending .

In contrast, bitcoind provides a facility to import a private key without creating a sweep transaction.
This is considered very dangerous, and not intended to be used even by power users or experts except in very specific cases. Importing keys could lead to the Bitcoins being stolen at any time, from a wallet which has imported an untrusted or otherwise insecure private key - this can include private keys generated offline and never seen by someone else [1] [2] .

In Bitcoin, a private key is a 256-bit number, which can be represented one of several ways.
Here is a private key in hexadecimal - 256 bits in hexadecimal is 32 bytes, or 64 characters in the range 0-9 or A-F.

Nearly every 256-bit number is a valid ECDSA private key. Specifically, any 256-bit number from 0x1 to 0xFFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFE BAAE DCE6 AF48 A03B BFD2 5E8C D036 4140 is a valid private key.

The range of valid private keys is governed by the secp256k1 ECDSA standard used by Bitcoin.

Wallet software may use a BIP 32 seed to generate many private keys and corresponding public keys from a single secret value. This is called a hierarchical deterministic wallet , or HD wallet for short. The seed value, or master extended key , consists of a 256-bit private key and a 256-bit chain code , for 512 bits in total. The seed value should not be confused with the private keys used directly to sign Bitcoin transactions.

Users are strongly advised to use HD wallets, for safety reasons: An HD wallet only needs to be backed up once typically using a seed phrase ; thereafter in the future, that single backup can always deterministically regenerate the same private keys. Therefore, it can safely recover all addresses, and all funds sent to those addresses. Non-HD wallets generate a new randomly-selected private key for each new address; therefore, if the wallet file is lost or damaged, the user will irretrievably lose all funds received to addresses generated after the most recent backup.

When importing or sweeping ECDSA private keys, a shorter format known as wallet import format is often used, which offers a few advantages.
The wallet import format is shorter, and includes built-in error checking codes so that typos can be automatically detected and/or corrected (which is impossible in hex format) and type bits indicating how it is intended to be used.
Wallet import format is the most common way to represent private keys in Bitcoin.
For private keys associated with uncompressed public keys, they are 51 characters and always start with the number 5 on mainnet (9 on testnet). Private keys associated with compressed public keys are 52 characters and start with a capital L or K on mainnet (c on testnet). This is the same private key in (mainnet) wallet import format:

When a WIF private key is imported, it always corresponds to exactly one Bitcoin address .
Any utility which performs the conversion can display the matching Bitcoin address.
The mathematical conversion is somewhat complex and best left to a computer, but it's notable that the WIF guarantees it will always correspond to the same address no matter which program is used to convert it.

The Bitcoin address implemented using the sample above is: 1CC3X2gu58d6wXUW _SAMPLE_ADDRESS_DO_NOT_SEND_ MffpuzN9JAfTUWu4Kj

Some applications use the mini private key format . Not every private key or Bitcoin address has a corresponding mini private key - they have to be generated a certain way in order to ensure a mini private key exists for an address. The mini private key is used for applications where space is critical, such as in QR codes and in physical bitcoins . The above example has a mini key, which is:

Any Bitcoins sent to the address 1CC3X2gu58d6wXUW _SAMPLE_ADDRESS_DO_NOT_SEND_ MffpuzN9JAfTUWu4Kj can be spent by anybody who knows the private key implementing it in any of the three formats, regardless of when the bitcoins were sent, unless the wallet receiving them has since made use of the coins generated.
The private key is only needed to spend the bitcoins, not necessarily to see the value of them.

If a private key controlling unspent bitcoins is compromised or stolen, the value can only be protected if it is immediately spent to a different output which is secure.
Because bitcoins can only be spent once, when they are spent using a private key, the private key becomes worthless.
It is often possible, but inadvisable and insecure, to use the address implemented by the private key again, in which case the same private key would be reused .

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Published: Mar 13, 2020

Last Updated: Apr 29, 2022

A Bitcoin private key is an unimaginably large number that is kept secret and used to access BTC when making transactions. This article will explain what Bitcoin private keys are, and how they’re used to grant access to funds. It also details the differences between various private key formats, such as hexadecimal, wallet import format (WIF), and compressed wallet import format (compressed WIF).
As noted in the introduction, a Bitcoin private key, a.ka. BTC private key, is just an enormous number. In particular, it’s a 256-bit number. A bit is just a “binary digit,” meaning a single bit is either a 0 or a 1. There are no other possibilities for the value of a single bit. It’s also important to note that a bit is the smallest unit of data that computers can process.
So, if a Bitcoin private key is just a 256-bit number, then can a private key be expressed in a 256-character string of ones and zeros? Indeed, it can. Here’s an example:
This is an example of a Bitcoin private key in binary format.
If you’re sufficiently strong-willed and patient, you could theoretically generate a random private key by flipping a coin 256 times and recording the result each time. Just choose which side corresponds to which value (either heads is equal to 0 and tails is equal to 1 or vice versa), and flip away.
In practice, this method of choosing a random key shouldn't be used. Generally speaking, humans are not very good at generating entropy (randomness). For instance, perhaps the way the coin is tossed isn't exactly the same every time, leading to a result of tails at a greater rate than heads. Or, maybe the coin may have a slight physical imperfection that results in heads appearing much more often than tails.
It's best to generate a Bitcoin private key using a tool or program that ensures a high level of entropy for maximum security. Remember that Bitcoin private keys should always be kept secret. There are a few places online where you can find a Bitcoin private key list, which means the corresponding public address is compromised. Thus, it's very difficult to find Bitcoin private keys with balance still belonging to them.
Of course, binary is not the only format in which Bitcoin private keys can be expressed. In fact, there are several other formats. One is called decimal, which simply means writing the number out in full form. For instance, the number “thirteen million” written out in decimal is 13,000,000. Using a simple converter tool , the Bitcoin private key in binary format above can be expressed in decimal format like this:
As you can see, it is an incredibly large number. Put in very simple terms, that is what drives the power of Bitcoin security— incomprehensibly large numbers. This makes it very, very, very difficult to generate private key from Bitcoin address.
Bitcoin wallets are a little like bank accounts locked with very, very large numbers as passcodes. If someone were to correctly guess your Bitcoin private key’s number, they would have access to your BTC and could easily steal your funds. However, because such gargantuan numbers are involved, the probability of that happening is basically zero.
Think of it this way: if every human on Earth had a computer program that allowed them to take a guess at your Bitcoin private key 1 Billion times per day per person, every day, for 100 years straight, the chances of anyone correctly guessing your private key number would still be in the ballpark of 1 in 3,512,469,265,893,923,428,170,004. Let that sink in for a moment.
But what about public keys and addresses? Since those are shared publicly, can’t someone discover your private key? Well, as it turns out, this isn’t any more likely than someone guessing your Bitcoin private key outright.
There are two layers of security to prevent an attacker from discovering your Bitcoin private key, even if they know your BTC address: Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) and cryptographic hash functions.
The Bitcoin software uses an advanced form of public key cryptography called Elliptic Curve Cryptography. In particular, Bitcoin uses the secp256k1 implementation of the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA). This sounds very complex and, indeed, the mathematics behind the ECDSA are extremely advanced. Fortunately, you don’t actually need to understand the details to understand how the ECDSA keeps Bitcoin private keys secure.
As noted at the beginning of the article, a Bitcoin private key is just a very large number. When this very large number is multiplied with the predetermined “generator point” on the secp256k1 elliptic curve, it produces a new point on the same curve. This new point is the public key that corresponds to the private key in question. One private key produces exactly one public key.
So, from a very high level, a public key is just a point on this curve (y^2==x^3+7). The point has an x-coordinate and a y-coordinate. The public key is simply these two values pushed up against one another (with a small prefix to indicate the format).
This provides two very important benefits. First, the public key can be shared with the network and it is still virtually impossible to reverse engineer the private key. Second, the private key can provide digital signatures such that the network can mathematically prove with 100 percent certainty that a particular Bitcoin private key provided the signature, without actually needing to know the private key itself. This is how most transactions are carried out.
Some researchers have noted that, at some point in the future, a theoretical attack from quantum computers could make cracking ECDSA cryptography possible . For an increased level of security—plus an easier and more friendly UX— we normally use addresses when making transactions, rather than public keys. This adds an extra layer of encryption to the public key. Let’s learn more about what makes an address different from a public key.
Cryptographic hash functions are mathematical equations used to create a digital fingerprint of data. They have a few important properties that make them extremely useful.
First of all, cryptographic hash functions are one-way only, meaning that input goes in and an output comes out, but there is absolutely no way to determine an input from the output alone.
Second, no matter what kind of data or what length of data you put in, you will get a random-looking string of data in return that is of fixed length and offers no clues about the input that produced it. If you enter a short input of, say, ten words, you will get an output 64 characters. If you enter an input of ten thousand words, you will still get an output of 64 characters.
Third, the same input will always produce the same output. If you use the same input and the same hash function ten million times in a row, you will receive the same output ten million times over.
Fourth, the probability of finding two inputs that produce the same output is so incredibly small that it can safely be assumed impossible. Once someone discovers two inputs that produce the exact same output, the hash function is considered broken and insecure.
Lastly, computers must be able to execute the hash function very, very quickly. This also means that, once you have a secret input, it’s trivial to confirm that the output (called the hash) matches a previously-announced public hash.
So, to provide users with an extra layer of security, we often use Bitcoin addresses , rather than public keys. When a public key is hashed with the Secure Hash Algorithm 256 (SHA-256) , and then the resulting hash is hashed again with the RACE Integrity Primitives Evaluation Message Digest 160 (RIPEMD-160), the result is known simply as a “pubkey hash.” Remember that hash functions cannot be reversed, so, if you know someone’s pubkey hash, you can send them funds but you cannot determine what their public key is (let alone their private key).
Once the pubkey hash is derived, a few more steps are required to create an address. To get the address, you add the version byte (normally 0x00 for the Bitcoin protocol ) to the beginning of the pubkey hash. That new string is then hashed again with SHA-256. The first four bytes (32 bits) of that hash (considered the checksum) are added to the end of the previous RIPEMD-160 hash, then the whole string is converted from a byte string into a base58 encoded string. This is the address.
Bitcoin addresses always start with a “1”, “3”, or “bc1”, making them easily distinguishable from public keys and private keys.
We can think of using an address as effectively securing the public key, which can technically be shared publicly. The only thing that absolutely must be kept secret is the Bitcoin private key. But, if an added layer of security is available, it makes sense to use it as a fail-safe. In addition, addresses are much shorter and easier to manage than public keys so they provide a better user experience.
Let’s look at a basic example of how a private key is used in a transaction.
Suppose Alice wants to buy a latte at Bob's Coffee Shop. The price of a latte is currently 0.0005 BTC. Before the transaction occurs, Alice's funds are secure in her wallet. Alice only needs to provide two things to the Bitcoin network to complete the purchase: her public key and a digital signature from her Bitcoin private key.
Recall that digital signatures are a secure way of verifying private key ownership publicly without ever having to reveal one’s private key. A digital signature can be thought of as a one-time password generated for each unique transaction.
In our example, as long as Alice is the only person who knows her Bitcoin private key, she is also the only person who can create the digital signature required to spend funds from her wallet. Let’s say Alice has 1 BTC in her wallet before buying a latte. Alice creates a unique digital signature for the 0.0005 BTC needed to purchase a latte. The transaction is broadcast to the Bitcoin network and confirmed by Bitcoin nodes. This 0.0005 BTC is now available in the wallet belonging to Bob’s Coffee Shop. No one else, including Bob’s Coffee Shop, can spend the remaining 0.9995 BTC in Alice’s wallet.
If Alice or someone else tries to use the same digital signature for a second transaction, Bitcoin nodes will always reject it. A second transaction would require a new, unique digital signature.
As discussed, there are multiple formats in which the same private key can be expressed. The two formats we covered in the beginning of the article— binary and decimal— are almost never used. They are useful for generating a Bitcoin private key but most wallet applications use other formats. In particular, wallets typically use hexadecimal, wallet import format (WIF), and/or compressed wallet import format (compressed WIF).
Let’s take a look at these three most common private key formats.
Hexadecimal is a notation that uses only the numerical digital 0—9 and the letters A—F. This makes data expressed in hexadecimal easier to read. Bitcoin private keys written in binary or decimal format can easily be converted to hexadecimal.
Here is the same BTC private key we expressed in binary and decimal at the beginning of the article converted to hexadecimal.
The wallet import format (WIF) and compressed wallet import format compressed (compressed WIF) are the most commonly used formats for Bitcoin private keys. They provide two main advantages over the above-mentioned formats. First, they are much shorter. This helps reduce copy/paste errors. Second, they use base58Check code to check for potential errors. That makes WIF formats very beneficial from an end-users’ perspective. Base58Check encoded private keys for WIF always start with a “5”, and compressed WIF private keys always start with a “K” or “L”.
It’s crucial to understand that compressed WIF doesn’t refer to private key compression. Bitcoin private keys are neither compressed or uncompressed. In fact, you might notice that the compressed WIF format, as seen in the example below, is one byte longer than WIF. It’s called “compressed WIF” because it indicates to the software to derive t
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