[Guide] How to create your customized Bitcoin-Address (vanitygen) – step by step

[1miau]

up

[1714899271]

1714899271

[1714899271]

1714899271

[1714899271]

1714899271

[bwatts]

What hardware do I need to speed up generation of address, it uses GPU?

[1miau]

What hardware do I need to speed up generation of address, it uses GPU?

vanitygen.exe is using CPU but the same file from samr7 contains also oclvanitygen.exe which is using GPU:

You can try vanitygen.exe or use the file oclvanitygen.exe, it’s up to you which one you prefer. The difference between them is that vanitygen is CPU-based and oclvanitygen GPU-based. For our 4-digit combination, don’t matter if case-sensitive or case-insensitive, vanitygen is sufficient on a normal PC, oclvanitygen tends to be faster, if it works. For the technical background you'll find more information in the original article from 2011: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=25804.0

But after I created the guide, Jean_Luc developed VanitySearch which is much faster in general. So if you need more than 4 characters, VanitySearch is your best decision:

Update 04/04/2019:

Member Jean_Luc has developed another vanity-address-generator and published it on github: https://github.com/JeanLucPons/VanitySearch

It's much faster than vanitygen and supports besides P2PKH legacy addresses (1..) also SegWit addresses P2SH (3...) and bech32 (bc1q...)

You can check out his announcement on Bitcointalk here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5112311.0

[protrader786]

Hey,

I don't know much about these things, i am new to crypto world, i would like to know a couple of things, i used your method and generated a address and its private key, but since i did it offline, what if someone searches the same keywords and gets the same private key or the same address. I just wanted to know if this happens or not before i load my address and start using it. Also, how do we get backup phrases for this address or only private key is enough ? Can i receive and send btc freely onto this ? How do we verify signatures into this wallet ? Complete noob here, please bear with me 

[LoyceV]

I don't know much about these things, i am new to crypto world

My advice is to familiarize yourself with what you're doing before sending a large amount to your new address. Test it, test recovery from your backup, test sending, and make sure you understand what you're doing before sending larger amounts to an address.

i used your method and generated a address and its private key, but since i did it offline, what if someone searches the same keywords and gets the same private key or the same address.

My all means: try it! Try to find the same address again. Or while you're at it, try to find the private key for 1FeexV6bAHb8ybZjqQMjJrcCrHGW9sb6uF (Balance: ). See how long it takes you to find an address that starts with 1FeexV6bAHb8ybZj. On my system, it would take, many billions of years to find. And each additional character makes it 58 times more difficult to find.
Of course you won't find it, but actually trying might help you to understand how secure Bitcoin addresses actually are. Generating it offline is actually a good thing: there's less risk of compromising your private key, and there is no such thing as "generating it online to check if nobody else uses it". That's not needed, as long as your private key is properly (randomly) generated.

Also, how do we get backup phrases for this address or only private key is enough ?

Print it, write it down, stamp it in steel, anything you want works. Note that you don't even need to backup the address itself, it can always be derived from the private key. And when you write down the key, make sure you can still read it and didn't make mistakes. Try to recover it, you wouldn't be the first to lose funds because of writing mistakes.
"Backup phrases" are just another way to create private keys. Your private key should be randomly generated on it's own, that means there is no "backup phrase". Just don't lose the private key!

Can i receive and send btc freely onto this ?

Yes. But try a small amount first to make sure you do it correctly.

How do we verify signatures into this wallet ?

See How to sign a message?!.

Complete noob here, please bear with me 

I tried, but this post can't be complete. Welcome to Bitcointalk, you'll find all the information you need here. Just read a lot, stay vigilant, and be very careful who you trust! Scammers are always after your private keys.

[protrader786]

I don't know much about these things, i am new to crypto world

My advice is to familiarize yourself with what you're doing before sending a large amount to your new address. Test it, test recovery from your backup, test sending, and make sure you understand what you're doing before sending larger amounts to an address.

i used your method and generated a address and its private key, but since i did it offline, what if someone searches the same keywords and gets the same private key or the same address.

My all means: try it! Try to find the same address again. Or while you're at it, try to find the private key for 1FeexV6bAHb8ybZjqQMjJrcCrHGW9sb6uF (Balance: ). See how long it takes you to find an address that starts with 1FeexV6bAHb8ybZj. On my system, it would take, many billions of years to find. And each additional character makes it 58 times more difficult to find.
Of course you won't find it, but actually trying might help you to understand how secure Bitcoin addresses actually are. Generating it offline is actually a good thing: there's less risk of compromising your private key, and there is no such thing as "generating it online to check if nobody else uses it". That's not needed, as long as your private key is properly (randomly) generated.

Also, how do we get backup phrases for this address or only private key is enough ?

Print it, write it down, stamp it in steel, anything you want works. Note that you don't even need to backup the address itself, it can always be derived from the private key. And when you write down the key, make sure you can still read it and didn't make mistakes. Try to recover it, you wouldn't be the first to lose funds because of writing mistakes.
"Backup phrases" are just another way to create private keys. Your private key should be randomly generated on it's own, that means there is no "backup phrase". Just don't lose the private key!

Can i receive and send btc freely onto this ?

Yes. But try a small amount first to make sure you do it correctly.

How do we verify signatures into this wallet ?

See How to sign a message?!.

Complete noob here, please bear with me  

I tried, but this post can't be complete. Welcome to Bitcointalk, you'll find all the information you need here. Just read a lot, stay vigilant, and be very careful who you trust! Scammers are always after your private keys.

Thank you for the insight, it was very helpful, i was concerned about it because if everything goes well i would like to use the same address for all my transactions, it took my gpu only 2 hours to generate it though so i was wondering if someone else would get the same address and key for it if they tried.

[tranthidung]

See how long it takes you to find an address that starts with 1FeexV6bAHb8ybZj. On my system, it would take, many billions of years to find. And each additional character makes it 58 times more difficult to find.

I read and learn (never stop learning ) and I can give a more detailed clarification. It is for a desktop PC.

Length	Pattern	Frequency	Average Search Time
_________	__________________	________________________	______________________________
1	1K	1 in 58 keys	< 1 miliseconds
2	1Ki	1 in 3,364	50 miliseconds
3	1Kid	1 in 195,000	< 2 seconds
4	1Kids	1 in 11 million	1 minute
5	1KidsC	1 in 656 million	1 hour
6	1KidsCh	1 in 38 billion	2 days
7	1KidsCha	1 in 2.2 trillion	3-4 months
8	1KidsChar	1 in 128 trillion	13-18 years
9	1KidsChari	1 in 7 quadrillion	800 years
10	1KidsCharit	1 in 400 quadrillion	46,000 years
11	1KidsCharity	1 in 23 quintillion	2.5 million years

Mastering bitcoin (A. Antonopoulos).

[blatchcorn]

I created vanity address as a gift for someone special. Am I right, that I can send bitcoins to this address even before anyone imports private key to Electrum wallet?
Although I do realize that it would be safer to test it first so I'm sure that private key works and my friend will be able to use bitcoins. I know this gift is problematic because there is no guarantee if I will keep the private key after giving it as a gift, but this is about trust and I'm sure my friend will trust me.

[LoyceV]

I created vanity address as a gift for someone special. Am I right, that I can send bitcoins to this address even before anyone imports private key to Electrum wallet?

Yes you can.

Although I do realize that it would be safer to test it first so I'm sure that private key works and my friend will be able to use bitcoins.

I always test my vanity addresses before funding them, for instance using bitaddress.org (offline, running LIVE Linux, and after taking all necessary safety precautions). Until now it always worked, but for my own peace of mind it doesn't hurt to test them.

I know this gift is problematic because there is no guarantee if I will keep the private key after giving it as a gift, but this is about trust and I'm sure my friend will trust me.

Although some people have trusted me with the private keys they still use, it's important to know Bitcoin is about not having to trust anyone. “Don’t Trust. Verify.”

[TheBeardedBaby]

This has to be bumped, I just created my first vanity address, which I was planning to do quite long ago. Thanks 1miau for the guide.
1ASENKoX4WCoJmMN5FN2dpQivifCt95hNp
The next step is SegWit One

[1miau]

This has to be bumped, I just created my first vanity address, which I was planning to do quite long ago. Thanks 1miau for the guide.
1ASENKoX4WCoJmMN5FN2dpQivifCt95hNp

Nice one, looks difficult.



I hope you were more successful than me. 

The next step is SegWit One

Of course, are you using VanitySearch for SegWit vanity addresses?

[SUMBI99]

Even if it is  posted to be possible to customize the Btc Address, I think it better not to try if your not technical fit or no try at all you might end up losing your funds
Much appreciated for the post but that is my suggestion

[TheBeardedBaby]

This has to be bumped, I just created my first vanity address, which I was planning to do quite long ago. Thanks 1miau for the guide.
1ASENKoX4WCoJmMN5FN2dpQivifCt95hNp

Nice one, looks difficult.



I hope you were more successful than me. 

The next step is SegWit One

Of course, are you using VanitySearch for SegWit vanity addresses?

It's wasn't that difficult, took me maybe approximately 20 mins @i7 9700K I guess I was lucky.

I was thinking to try 1asenko instead but takes 2.4 days. So maybe sometime later can do a try.
Regarding the SegWit, yeah, I was reading exactly this thread so when I have more free time will try it as well. I have so many ideas now

[LoyceV]

I have so many ideas now

If you make a long list of words you want to search, this largely increases the chance of finding at least some of them.

[TheBeardedBaby]

I'm still playing with the generator, here some questions.

How can I enter a full address? I mean I know it's impossible to generate a whole address, maybe the only chance is like a side effect of using the Infinite Improbability Drive (THGTTG) but If I add it to the list it won't do any harm anyway.

How about using the -r option? Will this work?

I'm creating list in the style like

1
11
111
1111
....... and so on.

Now I'm getting the "prefix ... is too long.

[ostrogoto2012]

Sorry guys i am not very teck about it , i will try to make one customized address me too, i will let you know if i did!

[nc50lc]

[4] You can totally disregard #3 and the directory selection by opening the command prompt directly from where Vanitygen is stored.

• Browse to the folder where vanitygen/oclvanitygen is.
• Press CTRL+SHIFT+RightClick on an empty space within the folder (not on the executable/files), click "Open command window here".
  

Quoting myself here for an update:
New Windows10 builds replaced the "Open command window here" with "Open PowerShell window here",
it'll work just fine but needs a slight modification in the command to launch/open executables.
Additionally, now holding Shift will trigger that right-click menu instead of Ctrl+Shift.

After opening the PowerShell directly from the directory of Vanitygen/search, start the command with .\
Example:

Code:

.\vanitysearch.exe -stop 1test

[-CryptoViking-]

Just stumbled upon this guide and I must say that is awesome. Very interesting stuff and I will most def try to create some vanity address for my humble self following your guide and advices from other members

Thanks OP for creating this guide!

[erikoy]

Nice guide to look for btc address that has similar to what you are looking for and that is very interesting to know but I should be more careful in using btc address with trademark especially usersname because of privacy reason. BTC wallets usually generates another btc address when doing transactions for the change for security purposes. Anyway, if this only for some sort of fun or purpose be good.

Question, Is it possible to get a private key of other btc address holding huge btc by using the program searching the btc public address?

[pooya87]

Question, Is it possible to get a private key of other btc address holding huge btc by using the program searching the btc public address?

simple answer is that if it were possible someone would have done it already.

what these programs do is that they choose a random key, convert it to public key then hash it and finally encode it to see if the starting characters are the same. so it is somewhat similar to brute forcing to find a collision. as the size of the collision increases it demands more work and this work grows exponentially not linearly. the full address requires checking at least 128-bits which will take until the end of the universe with the current total computing power in the world.