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Topic: What's the point of signing messages? - page 2. (Read 210 times)

legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 18748
July 05, 2020, 02:31:47 PM
#4
It proves ownership of an address, and since addresses rarely change hands, it also goes a little way to proving identity as well.

You can use it to prove that you are in possession of funds that you say you are, such as if you are offering a trade, escrowing a deal, or funding a campaign. You can use it to prove that you own an address which has been historically linked to an account or person. For example, if I lost control of my account I could sign a message from an address used by this account many years ago, which would help to prove I am the real owner. If we were about to make a trade, but you wanted to confirm you were trading with the real o_e_l_e_o, you could ask me to sign a message from an old address to  help prove that the account hasn't changed hands. CSW's constant and repeated failure to sign a message from an early bitcoin address helps to prove he is categorically not Satoshi.
hero member
Activity: 1358
Merit: 851
July 05, 2020, 02:25:50 PM
#3
Signing message proves that you are talking to the correct person, the message can't be altered or changed. You can check whether sender has sent you the exact message etc. I guess it has more usage as well.
hero member
Activity: 2338
Merit: 757
July 05, 2020, 02:23:57 PM
#2
But, except from this smart thread that you can prove you own your account, I find it useless. Clever invention, but useless.
So you think it's a useless clever invention!? That smart thread you have mentioned can't be created without that clever invention.
If you own an address, this means that its private keys is under your controle. The signing message option is to prove the ownership of a specific address without the need to show the private keys. To avoid phishing attempts of pretending to be the owner of an address, only the real owner can sign a message using the PK. For better understanding, take a look at the campaign managers who sign message from the address containing the funds resereved for the campaign. A lot of other use cases of this option.
This is not only with bitcoin, other blockchains have this option too. 

Question #2:
I wonder, Satoshi was the first one who implemented blockchain. Was he the first one who invented the signing/verifying thing?
I can't tell if he is the first one who invented this option but i can ensure you that it's determined in the Bitcoin protocole. There are already other forms of signing mesages in the "data encryption" science.
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 7340
Farewell, Leo
July 05, 2020, 02:04:47 PM
#1
What is the point of proving you own an address? Has it ever happened to you, to need it? I mean, yeah, if Satoshi Nakamoto signs a message from the address of genesis block, it is a big thing. But, except from this smart thread that you can prove you own your account, I find it useless. Clever invention, but useless.

Question #2:
I wonder, Satoshi was the first one who implemented blockchain. Was he the first one who invented the signing/verifying thing?
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