Private Keys - Need Information..

[rexcoin]

Hello,

I would like to know what is the easiest way to get a private key from a bitcoin address, and how to import it to the bitcoin wallet.

I am thinking of doing what others are doing and giving away bitcents to random people so i would love to know the easiest decentralized way of giving people bit cents. I will be using the paper wallet method - just so new people can use and see bitcoin for themselves.

[Pieter Wuille]

If one could obtain a private key from an address, Bitcoin and all public-key-cryptography was doomed.

The process is:

   private key  ->  public key  ->   address

Both arrows are irreversible.

That said, bitcoin 0.6 will have an RPC call by which you can ask bitcoin the private key corresponding to a given address, given that it is your own.

[rexcoin]

If one could obtain a private key from an address, Bitcoin and all public-key-cryptography was doomed.

The process is:

   private key  ->  public key  ->   address

Both arrows are irreversible.

That said, bitcoin 0.6 will have an RPC call by which you can ask bitcoin the private key corresponding to a given address, given that it is your own.

Thanks for responding, um im just trying to do paper bitcoins like others have done, maybe i worded it wrong, but i just would like to know how they did it as i would like to do the same.

[Stephen Gornick]

http://BitAddress.org will create private keys and public addresses for you.  You can then send funds to those public addresses for the microtransaction amounts and then give away the paper wallets.  The recipients can use the MtGoxLive mobile app to scan the QR code with the private key (or enter manually the key) and redeem the funds on Mt. Gox, or with the Javascript wallets My Wallet (http://www.blockchain.info) or StrongCoin.

Another method for handing out bitcents is to use http://Instawallet.org urls and hand those out.

[BurtW]

I also sugget you use bitaddress to create paper wallets.  It works and is free.  You can create as many as you want.

Next you can fund each of these by sending BTC to each public address.

Then to get the BTC off the paper wallet and back into the Bitcoin client wallet you can use the pywallet program to import the private key from the paper wallet.

Hope that helps.