Bitcoin Forum

If I redeem a private key with nothing on it (generated with vanitygen), will all coins sent to the address associated with it go to my Mt. Gox account always? Or does the feature only withdraw the balance of the key once, and not associate the address with my Mt. Gox account?

Thanks!

Want to know, too.

MtGox will sweep any coins out of the address when it is added, and will keep it for future use and sweep out any coins added later. The coins are sent to a new address and credited to your account.

So if I import a private key, I can use the address forever, and whenever someone sends money to it, it goes into my Mt. Gox account automatically. Right?

If you import it to MtGox, I would not recommend that you use it in your personal wallet. However, yes that is how it works. You may wish to send a satoshi to the address first before importing it, because I'm not sure whether MtGox will import an empty key.

My understanding is that MtGox will permanently sweep anything that comes to it, regardless of whether you send a satoshi to it.

You can add it to your wallet without the sky falling - most likely thing that will happen is that your client will also see that "you" spent any incoming funds immediately after they arrive.  That transaction, of course, will have been issued by MtGox, but your client will treat the transaction as if you did it yourself.