256 bits in base58 | Bitcointalksearch.org

DannyHamilton

legendary

Activity: 3388

Merit: 4615

Quote from: DeathAndTaxes on March 09, 2014, 12:36:20 PM

Quote from: Peter R on March 09, 2014, 12:23:57 PM

EDIT: D&T you beat me!

I winz one internets! Don't feel bad if Danny was here he would have beat both of us. The guy must either type 500 wpm or has a mind machine interface.

Was out selling bitcoins to a local (and getting my hair cut, and working out at the gym, and a few other errands).

Missed my opportunity to beat you both. I'll get you next time.

I don't type very fast at all. I've been a programmer for over 30 years, and I still do most of my typing with only 6 fingers (and my thumbs for the spacebar). I do make judicial use of search, copy, and paste. Saves me a huge amount of typing (and a huge amount of remembering).

DeathAndTaxes

donator

Activity: 1218

Merit: 1079

Gerald Davis

Quote from: Peter R on March 09, 2014, 12:23:57 PM

EDIT: D&T you beat me!

I winz one internets! Don't feel bad if Danny was here he would have beat both of us. The guy must either type 500 wpm or has a mind machine interface.

Peter R

legendary

Activity: 1162

Merit: 1007

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Wallet_import_format

There is a checksum appended (and an ID byte prepended).

Nearly any 256 bit number is a valid ECDSA private key. Make a single typo and it's still a valid private key (to a different address). The checksum makes WIF robust against typos/import errors. Take one of your base58 WIF keys, make some typos and try to import it: you'll see that it doesn't work.

Bitcoin addresses also have similar checksums appended. This means that if you make a typo or drop the last character when entering a send-to address, that the checksum won't "check" and you won't lose your bitcoins.

EDIT: D&T you beat me!

DeathAndTaxes

donator

Activity: 1218

Merit: 1079

Gerald Davis

It includes a checksum (just like addresses) to avoid importing incorrect key. It also includes a compressed or uncompressed flag so the proper PubKeyHash can be computed.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Wallet_import_format

krampus

member

Activity: 98

Merit: 10

Village Idiot

NSA tracking bits.

kellrobinson

sr. member

Activity: 304

Merit: 380

It only takes 44 characters in base58 to encode 256 bits, so why do private keys have 50 characters?

Topic: 256 bits in base58 (Read 758 times)