Vanity Private Key

[h0w8rd]

I know you can create a vanity Bitcoin Address, but is there a way to create a Vanity Bitcoin Private key?

[mexxer-2]

I know you can create a vanity Bitcoin Address, but is there a way to create a Vanity Bitcoin Private key?

Heh I was under the impression that you can import any private key of the right length, well I might be wrong. At any rate, why would you want to do it? Priv key as the name states , is supposed to be private

[gerald-80]

How do you trust vanity services I dont really get it!

[DannyHamilton]

I know you can create a vanity Bitcoin Address, but is there a way to create a Vanity Bitcoin Private key?

Sure.  It's typically called a "brainwallet" and it's a really, Really, REALLY bad idea.

[shorena]

How do you trust vanity services I dont really get it!

The method is called split key generation. You create a private / public key pair. You give the public key to the person creating the vanity address for you. That person combines your public key with other newly generated public keys (ofc they generate private keys and get the public key from that). Out of the combined public key they generate the address and check if it matches your prefix. If it matches your prefix they have a partial private key that will result in the address if combined with your private key. The partial key alone is not enough to find the combined private key and only you know both parts.

[BurtW]

I know you can create a vanity Bitcoin Address, but is there a way to create a Vanity Bitcoin Private key?

A private key is any 256 bit number so yes, you can create any private key you want.

I assume you want the encoded version of the private key to "spell something"

Sure, no problem:  start with what you want it to "say" as a legit encoded string and you are done...

Not very exciting.

As Danny said:  This is a very bad idea.

[h0w8rd]

I know you can create a vanity Bitcoin Address, but is there a way to create a Vanity Bitcoin Private key?

Sure.  It's typically called a "brainwallet" and it's a really, Really, REALLY bad idea.

Brainwallet is just a Passphase, what I wanted to do is have a private key that is

 BitcoinDjs9BsUqVh1Nivythf49VvEzGXpDYj37ZLtDxdDyXN7D

[achow101]

I know you can create a vanity Bitcoin Address, but is there a way to create a Vanity Bitcoin Private key?

Sure.  It's typically called a "brainwallet" and it's a really, Really, REALLY bad idea.

Brainwallet is just a Passphase, what I wanted to do is have a private key that is

 BitcoinDjs9BsUqVh1Nivythf49VvEzGXpDYj37ZLtDxdDyXN7D

Theoretically it is possible, but it probably is not secure. It would have to start with 5, K, or L since those are the WIF prefixes for Bitcoin.

[dserrano5]

Brainwallet is just a Passphase, what I wanted to do is have a private key that is

 BitcoinDjs9BsUqVh1Nivythf49VvEzGXpDYj37ZLtDxdDyXN7D

I bet that funds sent to the address corresponding to the privkey deadbeefdeadbeefdeadbeefdeadbeefdeadbeefdeadbeefdeadbeefdeadbeef will be immediately swiped by some bot. The same might happen with tons of other "vanity private" keys.

[AtheistAKASaneBrain]

The principle is you have to avoid actual words like the plague, a mess of characters, including numbers and special characters, is what's desired, that's why by default Bitcoin addresses are long string of random characters. I think we'll see soon new features that allow us to properly tag and give recognizable names to our addresses and share them in a more user friendly and fashionable way (see the Chris Odom lecture on BIP47).

[h0w8rd]

it's risky, but I am ok with it.

So is there a way (utility) to generate private vanity keys..

Something like

5BitcoinDs9BsUqVh1Nivythf49VvEzGXpDYj37ZLtDxdDyXN7D

[BurtW]

You don't seem to understand that since a private key can be anything you are not constrained to just having the first part "say something" and then be stuck with whatever random characters appear in the rest, like you are with a vanity Bitcoin address.

Theoretically you can have the vast majority of the encoded private key say whatever you want it to say.  It will have to start with the correct characters of course and end with the correct checksum but then after that you can control almost everything else.

The utility you desire is very easy to write.

Basically just do steps 1 - 7 described here in reverse:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Wallet_import_format

Start with a properly encoded Base58 encoded string:

5 <constrained 2nd character> <A bunch of Base 58 characters YOU CAN PICK> <constrained characters to encode the checksum>

So you can pick almost all of the characters in the string as long as they are in the Base 58 character set.

This is a very bad idea.

[h0w8rd]

thanks again, but as I am not a programmer   hard to follow throgh,  but I'll look over it.

would be nice if there is a util to do it.

[shorena]

thanks again, but as I am not a programmer   hard to follow throgh,  but I'll look over it.

would be nice if there is a util to do it.

Think of it like this. The private keys are what protect your bitcoin. They only work properly if they are random. What you are suggesting is that you remove part of the randomness, so the private key looks good. A private key however is nothing to show someone else, so it would only look good to you and you reduce the security for it.

If you want something good looking, that is not a security risk and can be shown around, get a vanity address[1].

[1] full disclosure Im biased on this, I sell them.

[h0w8rd]

thanks again, but as I am not a programmer   hard to follow throgh,  but I'll look over it.

would be nice if there is a util to do it.

Think of it like this. The private keys are what protect your bitcoin. They only work properly if they are random. What you are suggesting is that you remove part of the randomness, so the private key looks good. A private key however is nothing to show someone else, so it would only look good to you and you reduce the security for it.

If you want something good looking, that is not a security risk and can be shown around, get a vanity address[1].

[1] full disclosure Im biased on this, I sell them.

To be honest, I don't want it to look good, I wanted to be easily remember.

take the private key I wanted to generate

5BitcoinDs9BsUqVh1Nivythf49VvEzGXpDYj37ZLtDxdDyXN7D

I want to store this in plain sight but instead I posted it as

5hutyAewDs9BsUqVh1Nivythf49VvEzGXpDYj37ZLtDxdDyXN7D

Since I only know to Change the 7 Letters back when I need to use my Private key, I can plainly put this on my computer or email me a copy without worrying about people getting hold of my Actual Key

It's similar to breaking down your private key into two parts, but this way, one part is easily remembered and recovered.

[BurtW]

Well, you could store a password encrypted version of your private key in plain sight and then when you want to use it you would use the password to decrypt the private key.

In this case the security of your private key would be as good as the security of your password.

You can do this with a password encrypted MS Excel document for example.

[cakir]

Yes you can; For instance I have this priv key:
5cakircakircakircakircakircakircakircakircakircakir
But Bitcoin Core says this is not valid WIF priv key. (Invalid private key encoding (code -5))

Yet;
On blockchain.info I can import it:
5cakircakircakircakircakircakircakircakircakircakir -> 1KpGFJqsLf1Phv7nmHSMDrg5tUA6tNiyLB

Also blockchain.info converts this priv key into this one: 5K648maJ5tmaNNVWTNAjGjBnUq57uPGjW15tREZeuiXGHDuUx54
(this one can be imported into bitcoin core etc.)

[shorena]

thanks again, but as I am not a programmer   hard to follow throgh,  but I'll look over it.

would be nice if there is a util to do it.

Think of it like this. The private keys are what protect your bitcoin. They only work properly if they are random. What you are suggesting is that you remove part of the randomness, so the private key looks good. A private key however is nothing to show someone else, so it would only look good to you and you reduce the security for it.

If you want something good looking, that is not a security risk and can be shown around, get a vanity address[1].

[1] full disclosure Im biased on this, I sell them.

To be honest, I don't want it to look good, I wanted to be easily remember.

Why not use encryption for that with a password as BurtW suggests? Why do you need to remember the raw private key?

take the private key I wanted to generate

5BitcoinDs9BsUqVh1Nivythf49VvEzGXpDYj37ZLtDxdDyXN7D

I want to store this in plain sight but instead I posted it as

5hutyAewDs9BsUqVh1Nivythf49VvEzGXpDYj37ZLtDxdDyXN7D

Since I only know to Change the 7 Letters back when I need to use my Private key, I can plainly put this on my computer or email me a copy without worrying about people getting hold of my Actual Key

It's similar to breaking down your private key into two parts, but this way, one part is easily remembered and recovered.

Yes, its like revealing half of your password and thus making it less secure, only that you are not revealing half of it, but 44/51 or ~86% (assuming 7 hidden and 51 total).

[h0w8rd]

thanks again, but as I am not a programmer   hard to follow throgh,  but I'll look over it.

would be nice if there is a util to do it.

Think of it like this. The private keys are what protect your bitcoin. They only work properly if they are random. What you are suggesting is that you remove part of the randomness, so the private key looks good. A private key however is nothing to show someone else, so it would only look good to you and you reduce the security for it.

If you want something good looking, that is not a security risk and can be shown around, get a vanity address[1].

[1] full disclosure Im biased on this, I sell them.

To be honest, I don't want it to look good, I wanted to be easily remember.

Why not use encryption for that with a password as BurtW suggests? Why do you need to remember the raw private key?

take the private key I wanted to generate

5BitcoinDs9BsUqVh1Nivythf49VvEzGXpDYj37ZLtDxdDyXN7D

I want to store this in plain sight but instead I posted it as

5hutyAewDs9BsUqVh1Nivythf49VvEzGXpDYj37ZLtDxdDyXN7D

Since I only know to Change the 7 Letters back when I need to use my Private key, I can plainly put this on my computer or email me a copy without worrying about people getting hold of my Actual Key

It's similar to breaking down your private key into two parts, but this way, one part is easily remembered and recovered.

Yes, its like revealing half of your password and thus making it less secure, only that you are not revealing half of it, but 44/51 or ~86% (assuming 7 hidden and 51 total).

how's is it still revealing my private key? if I show you my key as

5hutyAewDs9BsUqVh1Nivythf49VvEzGXpDYj37ZLtDxdDyXN7D

how would you even decode this to my real key?

[achow101]

how's is it still revealing my private key? if I show you my key as

5hutyAewDs9BsUqVh1Nivythf49VvEzGXpDYj37ZLtDxdDyXN7D

how would you even decode this to my real key?

Because that is the real private key. That is in what is known as Wallet Import Format. You enter this type of string into a wallet in order to import a private key, so it stands to reason that the private key can be derived from this string, and it can. That is actually the private key, just encoded into a certain format. That is the private key encoded in Bitcoin's base58CheckEncoding. Since the actual private key that is encoded is not hashed, it can thus be decoded into the actual key. So sharing your private key like this is actually sharing your private key and will result in your Bitcoin being stolen.