Topic: recreate Bitcoin (Read 139 times)
In the bitcoin source it is only the base58.c file?
Base58 isn't used at all in the Bitcoin protocol so there isn't even a problem to use base57 right now
It's only used to represent "redeeming scripts" (not really but close enough) as human readable addresses, which you can write in whatever base you'd like as long as people sending coins your way agree on that format
By the way we now use Bech32 addresses so you'll see less and less base58
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/BIP_0173
Example of changing the base of a random address:
- classical base 10, 0123456789:
03208201879866765930316939846674310105672575856186728793269
- classical base 16, 0123456789abcdef:
082d730c471a94aa1ca711a72f5b7ea80faa9d28f97ce44b5
- Bitcoin base 58, 123456789ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijkmnopqrstuvwxyz:
1CvpddsyKHQs5VHuvVBjAHZqc4z2r1FbV6
- a random base 57 I found on the web, 0123456789abcdefghijkmnopqrstvwxyzABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXYZ:
0kN8M5TDvkniYc4NsY0rdtC2Hy9RVtfaVQ
All these encode the same information
It's only used to represent "redeeming scripts" (not really but close enough) as human readable addresses, which you can write in whatever base you'd like as long as people sending coins your way agree on that format
By the way we now use Bech32 addresses so you'll see less and less base58
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/BIP_0173
Quote
Motivation
For most of its history, Bitcoin has relied on base58 addresses with a truncated double-SHA256 checksum. They were part of the original software and their scope was extended in BIP13 for Pay-to-script-hash (P2SH). However, both the character set and the checksum algorithm have limitations:
Base58 needs a lot of space in QR codes, as it cannot use the alphanumeric mode.
The mixed case in base58 makes it inconvenient to reliably write down, type on mobile keyboards, or read out loud.
The double SHA256 checksum is slow and has no error-detection guarantees.
Most of the research on error-detecting codes only applies to character-set sizes that are a prime power, which 58 is not.
Base58 decoding is complicated and relatively slow.
For most of its history, Bitcoin has relied on base58 addresses with a truncated double-SHA256 checksum. They were part of the original software and their scope was extended in BIP13 for Pay-to-script-hash (P2SH). However, both the character set and the checksum algorithm have limitations:
Base58 needs a lot of space in QR codes, as it cannot use the alphanumeric mode.
The mixed case in base58 makes it inconvenient to reliably write down, type on mobile keyboards, or read out loud.
The double SHA256 checksum is slow and has no error-detection guarantees.
Most of the research on error-detecting codes only applies to character-set sizes that are a prime power, which 58 is not.
Base58 decoding is complicated and relatively slow.
Example of changing the base of a random address:
- classical base 10, 0123456789:
03208201879866765930316939846674310105672575856186728793269
- classical base 16, 0123456789abcdef:
082d730c471a94aa1ca711a72f5b7ea80faa9d28f97ce44b5
- Bitcoin base 58, 123456789ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijkmnopqrstuvwxyz:
1CvpddsyKHQs5VHuvVBjAHZqc4z2r1FbV6
- a random base 57 I found on the web, 0123456789abcdefghijkmnopqrstvwxyzABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXYZ:
0kN8M5TDvkniYc4NsY0rdtC2Hy9RVtfaVQ
All these encode the same information
Would it be possible to recreate Bitcoin with a base57 ? if so how ?
Jump to: