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How to make a brain wallet out of any private key.
Think of a common name for each letter in the private key. If the letter is upper case use a male name if the letter is lower case use a female name. If the character is a number use the number because numbers are easy to remember. Thus the private key:
5HpHagT65TZzG1PH3CSu63k8DbpvD8s5ip4nEB3kEsreAnchuDf
Is:
5 Henry Patty Henry Agatha Gail Tom 65 Tom Zak Zoey Gale 1 Peter Henry 3 Charles Sam Ursula 63 Kathy 8 Denis Betty Patty Victoria Dennis 8 Sally 5 Irene Patty 4 Nancy Ernie Bob 3 Kathy Ernie Sally Renie Ester Archie Nancy Catherine Helen Ursula Dennis Fanny
This simple rule makes any private key easy to remember. Tell everyone you trust your private key name. This is a backup against you forgetting.
This method is very sexist. |
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Please listen to me and do not create a brainwallet. You will end up getting robbed. I want to be sure to understand : I have calculated that my passphrase has an real entropy far beyond 160 (12*log2(15000)=166, not to mention my 12 extra personnal words for which entropy is obviously more difficult to evaluate), then, why concretely would my private key be less secure than a common private key held with a software like Electrum ? can anybody confirm : is a unused brainwallet with a passphrase of 160 bits of entropy, as secure as a common private key held with a software like Electrum for example ? A bitcoin address has 160 bits of entropy. If your key has more than 160 bits of entropy and it is stored only in your head, then you are maximally protected against everything but coercion and memory loss. is it possible to be attacked when moving out of cold storage if the wallet implementation is weak? this doesn't have to do with brain wallets per se, but assuming you'll eventually move the coins, you have to choose a method. In case I would have to move the coins from a brainwallet, I would use Electrum private key sweeping option. Electrum is a nice software for moving coins and short term storage, isn't it ? |
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Please listen to me and do not create a brainwallet. You will end up getting robbed. I want to be sure to understand : I have calculated that my passphrase has an real entropy far beyond 160 (12*log2(15000)=166, not to mention my 12 extra personnal words for which entropy is obviously more difficult to evaluate), then, why concretely would my private key be less secure than a common private key held with a software like Electrum ? I up, can anybody confirm : is a unused brainwallet with a passphrase of 160 bits of entropy, as secure as a common private key held with a software like Electrum for example ? |
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A brainwallet is information that you are storing in your brain that allows you to generate the necessary private key and bitcoin address. That's why it is called a brainwallet. Every thing that you need to be able to access your bitcoins in the future is tucked away inside your brain where it is completely inaccessible to anyone unless/until you personally give them access. The problem with 99% of brainwallets is that people find it extremely difficult to permanently memorize anything, but especially anything that has at least 160 bits of entropy. Therefore, most people end up choosing VERY VERY low entropy sources of information for their brainwallet which puts their funds at risk.
A paperwallet is any information that you are storing on one or more pieces of paper that allows you to generate the necessary private key and bitcoin address. That's why it is called a paperwallet. Everything that you need to be able to access your bitcoin in the future is tucked away on paper that you have hopefully taken reasonable precautions to secure against loss or anyone else accessing without your permission.
The OP essentially has chosen to create a paperwallet, and to secure that paper wallet with a passphrase. The strength of his passphrase doesn't matter at all as long as nobody but himself ever accesses his paper wallet.
Dumb people who cannot remember 160 bits of entropy... Do you imagine how much entropy a stage actor have to remember ? a doctor ? It seems to me that 160 bits of entropy is ridiculously small compared with brain capacity. In my opinion, any cultured/creative/ingenious people can elaborate a personnal passphrase easy to remember and with a large entropy (althought difficult to evaluate), because you have already so much information stored in your brain that you can take advantage of.. |
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Please listen to me and do not create a brainwallet. You will end up getting robbed. I want to be sure to understand : I have calculated that my passphrase has an real entropy far beyond 160 (12*log2(15000)=166, not to mention my 12 extra personnal words for which entropy is obviously more difficult to evaluate), then, why concretely would my private key be less secure than a common private key held with a software like Electrum ? |
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Please listen to me and do not create a brainwallet. You will end up getting robbed.
What you need to do is not be so paranoid and keep things simple.
Only install stuff from trustworthy sources, stay away from pirated software, keep all of your software updated, install an anti-virus and use any Bitcoin client from bitcoin.org. I highly recommend electrum.
IMPORTANT: Make sure you back up your Bitcoin wallet because that is the biggest reason people lose their BTC, much more people forget to backup and lose BTC then have their BTC stolen by hackers and scammers combined. Also make sure you regularly check your backups are still there and still work.
I understand what you mean, but I participate in bitcoin with a brain-wallet because this is fun, whereas using a software and making backups is not fun. I dont think my bitcoins will be stolen, and even if they are, I would not mind much, because it is only a tiny fraction of my savings. |
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My passphrase is composed of 24 words : 12 words randomly chosen in a 15000 words dictionary (writen on a paper in three differents locations) + a more personal phrase composed of 12 words (not written on paper because I cant forget it).
This isn't what most people call a "brainwallet". This is just a normal wallet. Many wallets give you the option of getting a mnemonic seed (a list of words) that you can use to recover your wallet if you lose access to it. electrum does this. These are a really good idea. Though I would recommend keeping an encrypted copy of the wallet as well as the paper words, makes it easy to check your balance and such and also never try to make up your own words. Yes it is, mine is a real brain-wallet. I generated my adress/keys with the brain-wallet.org java applet, after having ramdomly chosen words by rolling real dices (+ more personnal phrase). |
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If you are concerned about security...
DO NOT CREATE A BRAINWALLET.
Your bitcoins will be FAR more vulnerable in a brainwallet than any concern you may have about the public key being exposed.
I dont think my brainwallet will be exposed. My passphrase is composed of 24 words : 12 words randomly chosen in a 15000 words dictionary (writen on a paper in three differents locations) + a more personal phrase composed of 12 words (not written on paper because I cant forget it).Are you sure? You should improve your security... I am pretty sure that I cannot remember 12 words randomly chosen (that is why I wrote them on paper), but I am 100% sure that I can remember a more personal phrase (because it was designed to be easy to remember). Unless, of course, if I get seriously sick, or die. |
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I would like to know, What is Brain Wallet? and How you saving with that for a long term?
I aim at saving a very tiny fraction of my savings in a brain-wallet, mostly for fun. Long term means for me 10-20 years. |
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If you are concerned about security...
DO NOT CREATE A BRAINWALLET.
Your bitcoins will be FAR more vulnerable in a brainwallet than any concern you may have about the public key being exposed.
I dont think my brainwallet will be exposed. My passphrase is composed of 24 words : 12 words randomly chosen in a 15000 words dictionary (writen on a paper in three differents locations) + a more personal phrase composed of 12 words (not written on paper because I cant forget it). |
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@ odolvlobo
@ RGBKey
@ jonald_fyookball
Thank you for answers,
I now understand that I was mistaking adress for public key.
As a consequence I understand that it is not compromising to consult adresses on Blockchain.info (I have no Blockchain.info account, I just use it to consult adresses).
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Hi, I aim to create a brainwallet for long term saving. I have got two questions :  1. I read somewhere (bitcoinmagazine.com), that a "used" adress (i.e., that have both received and sended bitcoins) is far less strong than an "unused" adress (ie., that have only received bitcoins, not sended), because in the first case the public adress will be exposed. Do you know why the public adress would be exposed when sending bitcoins, wheras it would not be exposed not when receiving ? 2. When I consult my account on blockchain.info, will then my account be considered as far less strong, because my public adress would have been communicated to a third party ? If the answer is yes, is there a mean of consulting my account while keeping my public key secret ? Thx all |
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