Bitcoin Forum

how to acquire bitcoin address?

roll some dice ... a lot of them.

What these people are talking about above is that a bitcoin address starts with a private key, which is just a randomly-generated number. Treating it just as a series of dice rolls I think is too low-level to actually be helpful to someone who would ask this question in the first place.

Leaving out the technical details, that number is then hashed into a public key, then that public key is hashed into what you would recognize as the address (starting with a "1", or "3" for multisig). All of these are typically represented in base-58 for readability/convenience, but they're all just regular numbers in reality.

The way that you "have" an address is that you control the private key so that you are able to sign transactions against it (i.e. spend). The typical way to do this is through some kind of wallet software, or having an account with a third party that runs wallet software on your behalf. The point of wallet software is that it keeps track of your keys and generates and broadcasts the transactions you execute in it.

If you want to have an address, there are a number of options, each with its own pros and cons relating to a security / convenience tradeoff.

The most straightforward thing for a new user is to download either a desktop client or web wallet and try it out.

Probably the easiest thing is to just get Blockchain.info's webwallet or download Electrum or Multibit. KryptoKit is really straightforward if you run Chrome. Darkwallet looks awesome but I haven't had a chance to examine it in any detail yet. Once you have some experience with what's involved with having a wallet, you can make better decisions about how you would want to manage your keys, and decide how technical you want to get in understanding what's going on underneath.

I've been flipping coin. how to import?

Have you actually done this at least once?

Download the Bitcoin client (bitcoin core).

Go to file, receive, generate address (or something like that...I don't have it open right now)

Or download vanitygen, run it.

 ;D
oh.. no one ever told me to download first the client software.
where can i download it and are there tar balls or linux package for this software?

https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet

I recommend Electrum because you don't
have to download the 16 gig blockchain.

use mycelium to acquire bitcoin address while in the main view, click the Options button and select Add Address Book, and click the + button.

nice! I don't have to manually configure to create deb package.

For an easy to use wallet try:

https://blockchain.info/wallet

If you are storing larger amounts of bitcoins and are concerned about higher security options, you can look at any of the wallets listed here:

https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet

Some of the more popular choices are:

• Armory
• Bitcoin Core
• Electrum
• MultiBit
• Mycellium
• Bitcoin Wallet for Android

Whats the catch when using these wallets by the way?

You should understand the difference between a web-based
wallet and one that you run yourself on your own machine.

The trade-off is that the web wallets are easier for
the beginner to use, but you are then trusting a
third-party (the web wallet provider) versus
completely controlling the private keys to
the coins yourself.

Are you familiar with the story of Mt. Gox?  :)

That's a bit like being presented with a list of a half dozen types of vehicles and asking:

"What's the catch when using these vehicles by the way?"

Each wallet has its own features and "quirks".  It's up to you as the consumer to determine what your needs are, to learn what each wallet has to offer, and to choose the wallet the best meets your needs.

Armory and Electrum offline both provide a method to secure your private keys on a computer that is never connected to the internet to significantly increase security (but at a cost of some inconvenience, and owning a second computer that is never connected to the internet).

Electrum relies on a server, MultiBit depends on SPV (Simplified Payment Verification).

Armory and Bitcoin Core both require you to have enough available disk space to store the entire blockchain, and need to be kept up to date with synchronization.

Most of those wallets run on computers, so they aren't as useful when you are out and about.  Mycellium and Bitcoin Wallet run on Android mobile devices, so they are more convenient for carrying around.

Most of those wallets can only be accessed from the one device where they are installed.  They don't synchronize to other devices.  You would need to create transactions to transfer balances between separate wallets on separate devices.

blockchain.info is a hybrid wallet.  You can access it from nearly any web browser (mobile device, laptop, desktop, etc).  They store your private keys in encrypted form so they can't access (spend/steal) your bitcoins, and they provide a backup file of your wallet so that you can still access the bitcoins even if they disappear.  This makes them much safer than other web based options (such as MtGox, BitStamp, localbitcoins, or Coinbase).

You need to apply for an account from the Bitcoin-CEO on Reddit. 

Go to bitaddress.org and generate them offline

You can get them fairly everywhere. I use a Blockchain btc address and also one one on the cex.io.

Theres multiple ways, but one of the common ones are getting a online wallet at blockchain info and register.

Your Bitcoin wallet will generate one for you upon opening it for the first time. So all you really have to do is download a secure wallet from a legitimate source and install/run it. There are other ways to generate a personal Bitcoin address, as mentioned by others, but you will most likely want to download a Bitcoin wallet in some form sooner or later if you intend to become part of the Bitcoin community for a very long time.

You can create one with any wallet client you want, or you can generate your private key (256-bit random number) with coins, dices, background radio noise, radioactive decays and convert it to a bitcoin address.

i've much radioactive decay. how to import?

First get a 256-bit number by flipping the coin 256 times, and convert it to hex format.
Then, convert it to WIF format using bitaddress in offline mode or manually with the following steps (not really suggested)  Wallet_import_format (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Wallet_import_format).

Please make sure you do enough testing to make sure everything is working, before depositing any bitcoin onto the address.



The idea should be exactly the same, and you need to get a 256-bit number with the decay data.
You may get some idea from the section "Bit from It" in  this page  (http://www.fourmilab.ch/hotbits/how3.html).

There's also http://brainwallet.org

You can always download multibit and create a wallet address with one click.

Easiest way is to signup to a trading site like Localbitcoins or Coinbase and you automatically get a online wallet, done.

Stay away from that. Unless you know what you're doing don't create a brain wallet - most people don't have enough randomness to create a truly random phrase and hence they have their funds stolen once the phrase is bruteforced. Either that or people copy lines from famous movies/poems/songs thinking that their smart and have their coins stolen when a bot comes along and copy pastes them over and over.

thanks a lot Danny,

I am concidering  blockchain.info 
besides it, which do you recommend?

among the web wallets in the choices given which do you recommend?

blockchain is reputable.  so is coinbase.

make sure to use 2FA whichever one you go with

you can acquire one in every bitcoin client like bitcoin-qt, multibit (use this one, its quicker) etc.
you can also generate vanity address like me, with your chosen word/beggining of bitcoin address

Just create wallet in sites like blockchain.info then you will get bitcoin address.

Thanks to you guys. glad there are lots of users who give support for newbies like me.  ;D

i now have an address :D

I just sent you a millibit.  ;D

thanks a lot jonald_fyookball,

I feel like I can earn thousands and not going through paypal anymore. :D

A good webwallet like blockchain.info does it but don't use it for large amounts

On bt qt I clicked on upper left hand corner on file then "receiving address" then clicked new then got one.

Why is that?

They seem to be reputable and can be backuped to online drives.

I'm using Multibit for a while now and it works like a charm

Maybe the lesson to be learned is not to store -everything- in one place. Don't put all eggs in one basket, you know.

there are many pages that will provide you address (sig)
you can also generate it in client like multibit or bitcoin-qt

You simply use a wallet like multibit or blockchain.info and the wallet will create one for you automatically.

If you wish to have an additional bitcoin address in multibit you can go to Request > New > select the number of addresses to generate > enter your wallet password as applicable > click create new