The purpose of signing in message of bitcoin wallets and digital signatures

[KingsGambet19]

I have learn the basic on how to sign in message using mycelium bitcoin wallet. The question is what really is the purpose on signing in message to bitcoin wallet? I forgot to ask this and due to heptic schedule on work I had no time to start a thread and probably to check replies too from other members. So, I relied on google using the google search engine and found similar thing on digital signatures and about signing in message to bitcoin wallets. Not quite sure though and this is why had decided to start a thread regarding on this matter.

Signing in message on bitcoin wallet.

In simple terms the purpose of signing in message on bitcoin wallet is to prove the ownership of bitcoin address may it be the sender bitcoin wallet or the recipient bitcoin wallet. The process in signing in message to bitcoin wallet is to input plain text message then encrypted using a hash - mathematical calculation that is applied to message and encrypt it using the private key. The result is what we called MD - Message Digest (a string of digits after hash has been applied).

This process is usually done prior to make transaction to ensure security of e-payments, validate ownership of bitcoin address and for authentication purposes.

When you login to or use their service, you will provide a signature proving you are the same person with the pre-negotiated address.

Bitcoin wallets are actually using digital signatures and a good practice is to always show or ask digital signature whenever a transaction to be made.

It is important to note that these signatures only prove one receives with an address. Since Bitcoin transactions do not have a "from" address, you cannot prove you are the sender of funds.

This will ensure the validity of bitcoin address to be use in the transaction after a digital signature has been provided.

Not really bad for this kind of idea and technology that has been applied. I appreciate it that much for whoever had invented or created such making digital signatures and putting it to good use.


Digital signatures not in bitcoin wallet

Digital signatures has been adapted for some purposes. The digital signature was actually applied to other applications not only to digital currencies or bitcoin. The application of digital signatures could be as follows,

*Electronic Mail
*Data storage
*Electronic fund transfer
*Software distribution
*smart cards
*ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network)
*Time stamp Signature
*Blind signature - disguise message content and can be verified using digital signatures(Unblinding)

I had hard time reading about those applications being mention but as far as it concern digital signatures was used for validation purposes just like a live signature of a person can made in those hard copies of documents being validated.

How does digital signature work?




The figure above shows the process of digital signatures and how does digital signature derive.

It may be look so complicated but mind you that the digital signature is the good way in validating authenticity of e-mails, e-payments and documents to avoid getting altered. Isn't it wonderful?

Advantages of the digital signature




Disadvantages




conclusion




Reference:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address.
https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/AdarshkumarYadav/digital-signature-72467638

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[Charles-Tim]

If you have gone through a thread on this forum before on the meta board, started by Tomatocage, you will be able to know the reason why we are signing a message. If you have used an address to sign a message before and post it on the thread, it will be good for another member to quote it with another account, so if your Bitcointalk account is compromised by hackers, you can be able to recover back your account if you prove the ownership of the address you signed, by using the same address to sign another message that can be verified. That means you have not done this yet, look for the thread on meta and sign a message, post it there and ask anyone to help you quote it.
Edit: I have found you the link:
Stake your Bitcoin address here
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=996318.0

[KingsGambet19]

If you have gone through a thread on this forum before on the meta board, started by Tomatocage, you will be able to know the reason why we are signing a message. If you have used an address to sign a message before and post it on the thread, it will be good for another member to quote it with another account, so if your Bitcointalk account is compromised by hackers, you can be able to recover back your account if you prove the ownership of the address you signed, by using the same address to sign another message that can be verified. That means you have not done this yet, look for the thread on meta and sign a message, post it there and ask anyone to help you quote it.
Edit: I have found you the link:
Stake your Bitcoin address here
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=996318.0

yeah I still not able to sign in message into that thread however I manage to post a sign in message and get verified in @OgNasty's thread supporting newbies to sign in message in bitcoin wallet.

-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hello I am KingsGambet practice sign in and verify sign in message
-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNATURE-----
Version: Bitcoin-qt (1.0)
Address: 1H35AF121Wpiu3ib2gqkBseBZQnGF5PKrs

H6KBxaBdUWbxfjPNzL7Gd51GW6ZHNjPCLz4T7MT/EbzGdp4SDvoCdxUWIQZQPJU9HHafqCqPk6l82RrjplyEQwA=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNATURE-----

[erikoy]

you should have sign in message to as suggested by @Charles-Tim for it will do good in you.

Well digital signatures are good if you have no trust on peoplw you are going to transact with. However, mostly transactiosn are being done with the parties you have known and trusted so it may not be necessary to use digital signatures at all. Anyway, thanks for sharing this info you had just effort in making this posts but people are not using digital signatures in making transactions here. Mostly payments are done locally or outside the forum and that does not requires digital signature too.

[bob123]

Since Bitcoin transactions do not have a "from" address, you cannot prove you are the sender of funds.

Actually, they do. At least somewhat.

Bitcoin does not work with a account-based model (like ethererum for example), but with a UTXO model.
This means Inputs are being converted to outputs. And these outputs are being assigned to public keys (P2PKH).

The transaction input (the UTXOs being used) could be interpreted as "from" field.

However, mostly transactiosn are being done with the parties you have known and trusted so it may not be necessary to use digital signatures at all.

Digital signatures are used regardless of whether you trust the other party.

They can be used to verify the authenticity of the message, for example when communicating over an insecure channel, where confidentiality is not necessary (if it would, encryption would be needed).

[ranochigo]

The process in signing in message to bitcoin wallet is to input plain text message then encrypted using a hash - mathematical calculation that is applied to message and encrypt it using the private key. The result is what we called MD - Message Digest (a string of digits after hash has been applied).

For ECDSA signatures, there is no encryption involved in the process.

Both signing a message and signing a transaction works in the same manner, other than the fact that "Bitcoin Signed Message:" is appended at the beginning of the message but that is transparent to the user. It has to choose a random nonce but most clients uses RFC6979 for a deterministic signature nowadays. After that it'll calculate for the signature. It's interesting to note that while most would require the actual public key for the validation, it can actually be obtained from the signature itself. The address you provides is just used to match the derived public key to the address that you provide.

This process is usually done prior to make transaction to ensure security of e-payments, validate ownership of bitcoin address and for authentication purposes.

When you login to or use their service, you will provide a signature proving you are the same person with the pre-negotiated address.

Bitcoin wallets are actually using digital signatures and a good practice is to always show or ask digital signature whenever a transaction to be made.

It is important to note that these signatures only prove one receives with an address. Since Bitcoin transactions do not have a "from" address, you cannot prove you are the sender of funds.

This will ensure the validity of bitcoin address to be use in the transaction after a digital signature has been provided.

I'm not sure which services requires the signed message but that is not too unreasonable to ask for. How would a Bitcoin signed message be used to enhance the security or ensure the validity? Most (other than in very special case) Bitcoin transactions involves the use of ECDSA signatures.