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Author Topic: does wallet.dat contain private key?  (Read 1161 times)
johnnyblueeyes (OP)
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June 20, 2011, 07:57:07 PM
 #1

To make BitCoin clients more secure, I've heard that the next native clients will encrypt the private key. Is that separate from the wallet.dat file?
Xenland
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June 20, 2011, 08:09:47 PM
 #2

I wonder this myself
timsmith
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June 20, 2011, 09:18:20 PM
 #3

I suspect so. Can't think where else it would be.
compro01
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June 20, 2011, 09:20:33 PM
 #4

the wallet.dat file contains all your public/private keypairs.

every bitcoin address you have has a corresponding keypair (the address is a special representation of the public key) in your wallet.dat file.

so yes, the wallet.dat file will be encrypted.  this should help protect against the wallet-stealing trojan people have been talking about.
Athenus
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June 20, 2011, 09:26:41 PM
 #5

You will probably have to enter a password first, and with that password the wallet can be decrypted. Hence a hacker would need both the wallet and your password, reducing the risk of your wallet getting sloten. Note that it's still possible that you might get infected with a keylogger or similar, but it IS more difficult to get botht the wallet and the password.
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