Ledger Nano S and vanity address

[Amstellodamois]

Instead of letting the Ledger choose a random 24 word seed and generate addresses from it, I wonder if it would be possible to generate a vanity address (probably offline) and import it in the Nano S.


Please stay constructive. If you think it's impossible, back it up with an explanation ;-)

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[jackg]

I THINK it's possible to use the public key and add the private part to it later using bitaddress.org. I really wouldnt recommend doing it though. It could expose something if you can't get the right address and have to try to add a private key to it (which I dont think is possible).

You could certainly use a vanity address in an online software wallet (or a sandboxed one) and send the funds to your nano afterwards. As if the vanity address becomes a gateway between the blockchain broadcasts and the nano.

[mattcode]

I think that Bitgen can be used to brute force a mnemonic seed where one of the addresses is a vanity address, but I've never tried it.

[Xynerise]

There are 2 problems here: The first is security, and the other is convenience.

Security:
Why would you import a private key into a hardware wallet that wasn't generated by the hardware wallet?
That defeats the purpose of the hardware wallet in the first place.
The point of a hardware wallet is that the seeds/ private keys aren't exposed at all.
So if you're generating private keys from wherever to  import them into a hardware wallet, then what is the point of the hardware wallet in the first place?
If a hardware wallet generates a seed phrase you can be sure that it will remain offline forever because it was generated offline and doesn't interact directly with the online computer.

The other point is convenience.
The mechanism for generating seed phrases actually generates entropy and encodes it so it's a one-way function: you can derive private keys from seed phrases but not seed phrases from private keys.
This means that it will be a hassle to store the private key for the vanity address you created as you'd have to store it as a paper wallet, which against defeats the point of a hardware wallet.
Also, hardware wallets do not have the option to import WIF private private keys so you can't even import it into the Ledger -- or any hardware wallet -- after generating the private key for your desired vanity address.

[Amstellodamois]

I'd generate the private key on an offline computer (which wouldn't ever be connected to the internet).


Could a generator generate keys and seeds?

[NeuroticFish]

Instead of letting the Ledger choose a random 24 word seed and generate addresses from it, I wonder if it would be possible to generate a vanity address (probably offline) and import it in the Nano S.

Please stay constructive. If you think it's impossible, back it up with an explanation ;-)

If you do any of those operations, in a way of another, you weakened the security of your wallet, at least in theory. The purpose of the hardware wallet is to do everything by itself, exactly to obtain as much security as possible.

Importing one private key or a list of private keys is not possible.

Now, for the purpose of experiment, let's say you find a seed that creates a vanity address you'd like. You know that the purpose of those seeds is to generate all your addresses from the wallet from that seed, right? And then only one of those addresses will be your vanity address, which, for safety purposes, should not reuse after spending from it.
So, with a great effort, you may get one vanity address, which you probably will not use for too long. I don't see it like something that worth it.

Could a generator generate keys and seeds?

As I explained, it would be a rather useless effort.

[Amstellodamois]

Got it.