Questions on Encrypt/Decrypt Message

nc50lc

legendary

Activity: 2618

Merit: 6452

Self-proclaimed Genius

Quote from: jiamijiang on November 05, 2020, 08:58:59 AM

i would also like to add that when decrypt/encrypting messages in electrum, it only seems to work when using the uncompressed public keys in hexadecimal form, prefix 04. I tried using a compressed, prefix 02 or 03, and it doesnt work...

I just tried it with version 4.0.4 and it worked.
Let's try, encrypt a message using this public key and I'll decrypt it using my wallet:

Code:

03b0ac40b7ae70e7cb16a96c2f70ac7d71f233153bba27fd90de16220d0590e4e5

What are the exact steps that you did when you're testing the feature?

jiamijiang

jr. member

Activity: 36

Merit: 27

i would also like to add that when decrypt/encrypting messages in electrum, it only seems to work when using the uncompressed public keys in hexadecimal form, prefix 04. I tried using a compressed, prefix 02 or 03, and it doesnt work...

tl121

sr. member

Activity: 278

Merit: 254

Encryption seems to work, once I followed the description and used the public key and not the address. My wallet is Trezor based, and Trezor (including latest firmware) doesn't support decryption, so I couldn't easily check that part out.

EcuaMobi

legendary

Activity: 1876

Merit: 1475

Quote from: BitcoinXio on December 14, 2015, 10:57:37 AM

Quote from: EcuaMobi on August 11, 2015, 11:16:31 AM

Quote from: RustyNomad on August 11, 2015, 11:03:52 AM

WORKING!!

Thanks, I've been using the address and not the public key. If I want to send a message to somebody else, how do I get the public key for their address?

There are ways to grab the public key from the blockchain as long as that address has spent coins at least once (the public key must be given to verify the signature of the TX).
However in practice you must just ask for it, it's public anyway. Ask for a public key and encrypt the message using that information.

Has anyone tried decrypting with it yet though? I've been able to encrypt fine (just like the screens above) however, when I go to decrypt I always get the message 'address not found'. I know it's the right encrypted message because all I'm doing is taking the encrypted message I just made and then trying to decrypt it back to verify it works.

You need to enter the public key too to decrypt the message, not just the encrypted string.
The easiest way to achieve this is by right-clicking on the address the message was encrypted with and selecting "Encrypt/decrypt message". That way the public key will be pre-populated.
Then enter the encrypted string and hit "Decrypt". You will be asked for your Electrum password and the decrypted message will appear.

BitcoinXio

sr. member

Activity: 285

Merit: 250

Quote from: EcuaMobi on August 11, 2015, 11:16:31 AM

Quote from: RustyNomad on August 11, 2015, 11:03:52 AM

WORKING!!

Thanks, I've been using the address and not the public key. If I want to send a message to somebody else, how do I get the public key for their address?

There are ways to grab the public key from the blockchain as long as that address has spent coins at least once (the public key must be given to verify the signature of the TX).
However in practice you must just ask for it, it's public anyway. Ask for a public key and encrypt the message using that information.

Has anyone tried decrypting with it yet though? I've been able to encrypt fine (just like the screens above) however, when I go to decrypt I always get the message 'address not found'. I know it's the right encrypted message because all I'm doing is taking the encrypted message I just made and then trying to decrypt it back to verify it works.

vfilchef

jr. member

Activity: 58

Merit: 3

Quote from: EcuaMobi on August 11, 2015, 11:16:31 AM

There are ways to grab the public key from the blockchain as long as that address has spent coins at least once (the public key must be given to verify the signature of the TX).
However in practice you must just ask for it, it's public anyway. Ask for a public key and encrypt the message using that information.

Yes but in BitcoinCore-QT wallet is not so easy to get public key for one address -you must to be familiar with console and for Multibit is impossible.
I think developers must think about this and make possible to be used address or public key - they have different length so it is not so difficult to programming or just to change algorithm to use only address like another clients.

ColderThanIce

sr. member

Activity: 373

Merit: 252

Oops, sorry about my incorrect answer. I just had a chance to test EcuaMobi's method on my Electrum wallet and it worked just as it should. I originally was using an address as well in the public key area. Thanks for clearing that up EM!

RustyNomad

sr. member

Activity: 336

Merit: 251

Thanks for the help

EcuaMobi

legendary

Activity: 1876

Merit: 1475

Quote from: RustyNomad on August 11, 2015, 11:03:52 AM

WORKING!!

Thanks, I've been using the address and not the public key. If I want to send a message to somebody else, how do I get the public key for their address?

There are ways to grab the public key from the blockchain as long as that address has spent coins at least once (the public key must be given to verify the signature of the TX).
However in practice you must just ask for it, it's public anyway. Ask for a public key and encrypt the message using that information.

RustyNomad

sr. member

Activity: 336

Merit: 251

Quote from: EcuaMobi on August 11, 2015, 10:55:32 AM

I just tested it now and it's working. Are you sure you're entering the public key and not the address when encrypting? The whole public key is always required. You can get it by left-clicking an address and selecting 'Public Keys'. Then use that value to encrypt.

WORKING!!

Thanks, I've been using the address and not the public key. If I want to send a message to somebody else, how do I get the public key for their address?

EcuaMobi

legendary

Activity: 1876

Merit: 1475

Quote from: RustyNomad on August 10, 2015, 03:15:58 PM

Tried searching the forum for more information on this function in Electrum but could not come up with much. Saw one post about this function being disabled in version 1.9.8 due to a bug.

I'm currently running version 2.3.2, is the encrypt/decrypt functional in this version?

Tried it but keep on getting an error/warning "Non-hexadecimal digit found"

I just tested it now and it's working. Are you sure you're entering the public key and not the address when encrypting? The whole public key is always required. You can get it by left-clicking an address and selecting 'Public Keys'. Then use that value to encrypt.

ColderThanIce

sr. member

Activity: 373

Merit: 252

I just tested it on my copy of Electrum 2.3.2 on Windows and I get the same error as you, so I think it's safe to say that the function is still disabled on 2.3.2.

RustyNomad

sr. member

Activity: 336

Merit: 251

Tried searching the forum for more information on this function in Electrum but could not come up with much. Saw one post about this function being disabled in version 1.9.8 due to a bug.

I'm currently running version 2.3.2, is the encrypt/decrypt functional in this version?

Tried it but keep on getting an error/warning "Non-hexadecimal digit found"

Topic: Questions on Encrypt/Decrypt Message (Read 2109 times)