RIP firstbits?

[kellrobinson]

Can't find a site that works -- firstbits.net, bitcoinfirstbits.com, blockchain.info, none of them works.
Searched for "firstbits" on github and found nothing.
Is firstbits dead?

[bitpop]

Yup dead for a long time
Maybe you should make one

[Kluge]

Reusing addresses went out of fashion a good while ago.

[kellrobinson]

Reusing addresses went out of fashion a good while ago.

There's a single-use application for which firstbits would be ideal:  brainwallets.
That is:  if you knew firstbits would be around to use when you spend the brainwallet, you would only have to memorize about six characters of the private key.  And the private key could be totally random, no passphrase necessary, no rainbow table vulnerability.
How come nobody ever published firstbits code -- or did I just not look in the right place?  What else is there besides github?

[TheButterZone]

https://github.com/bitcoin-abe/bitcoin-abe/blob/master/Abe/firstbits.py

[bitpop]

Reusing addresses went out of fashion a good while ago.

There's a single-use application for which firstbits would be ideal:  brainwallets.
That is:  if you knew firstbits would be around to use when you spend the brainwallet, you would only have to memorize about six characters of the private key.  And the private key could be totally random, no passphrase necessary, no rainbow table vulnerability.
How come nobody ever published firstbits code -- or did I just not look in the right place?  What else is there besides github?

I don't get it

[kuverty]

I understand firstbits has its problems but I don't understand all the hate. If I use a fistbits address instead of a purely random one, I'll still be using just one address. I can't see how people getting their firstbits addresses by sending some BTC to an address to make it their own could contribute to blockchain spam in any significant way. Most people would use their firstbit addresses anyway.

Many people have an address for donations in their signature for example, it would not matter if it was a firstbits address. I think it's just fine to have a more permanent address to give out.

I'd be happy to see a working firstbits lookup and if a was more of a coder I would like to set that up. For the most popular altcoins, too.

[kellrobinson]

Don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that firstbits could be used for a brainwallet.  Firstbits is for addresses, not private keys, so obviously it wouldn't be of any use.  Duh.

[kuverty]

Don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that firstbits could be used for a brainwallet.  Firstbits is for addresses, not private keys, so obviously it wouldn't be of any use.  Duh.

I thought you meant that you if have a brain wallet like the one generated by "correct horse battery staple", which, if you use the default settings at brainwallet.org, corresponds to the address 1JwSSubhmg6iPtRjtyqhUYYH7bZg3Lfy1T; then you could accept payments or send yourself some money by remembering only the firstbits, which could be 1JwSS, quite short.

This way you could keep all the stuff you need for using Bitcoin in your head. You obviously remember your brain wallet's passphrase, so you can access your funds if you need; with firstbits you can also quite easily remember your wallet's address, memorizing the full address would be unnecessary (it's difficult, many people probably would not want to do it).

[ReCat]

Why isn't firstbits implemented in the bitcoin wallet? Should be easy as hell.

[bitclown]

Why isn't firstbits implemented in the bitcoin wallet? Should be easy as hell.

Firstbits is generally considered to be a bad idea. Full bitcoin addresses contains a checksum to protect against typos and mis-pastes.

[bitpop]

It's over

[Pente]

Don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that firstbits could be used for a brainwallet.  Firstbits is for addresses, not private keys, so obviously it wouldn't be of any use.  Duh.

I thought you meant that you if have a brain wallet like the one generated by "correct horse battery staple", which, if you use the default settings at brainwallet.org, corresponds to the address 1JwSSubhmg6iPtRjtyqhUYYH7bZg3Lfy1T; then you could accept payments or send yourself some money by remembering only the firstbits, which could be 1JwSS, quite short.

This way you could keep all the stuff you need for using Bitcoin in your head. You obviously remember your brain wallet's passphrase, so you can access your funds if you need; with firstbits you can also quite easily remember your wallet's address, memorizing the full address would be unnecessary (it's difficult, many people probably would not want to do it).

This is exactly what I have been doing. I memorized all the firstbits of the addresses for my brainwallets. That way everything important was stored in my head. I certainly don't want to use brainwallet.org on some random computer to figure out my address. For right now, I just keep links to the addresses of my brainwallets on a file on my website.