Bitcoin private key with 98 characters and starting with 3

[TheMeisterL]

hello there! how are you doing? I hope you all fine.
I recently stumbled across a private key with 98 characters that starts with "3". As far as I know, bitcoin private keys only starts with 5, K or L and is 51 and 52 characters long. Anyone has an ideia of what it is?

Update 1: I found some kind of pattern.

Update 2: Someone knows something about Secg ecoding? Ive found It on the Apple site and It looks like the length matches

[1713983712]

1713983712

[1713983712]

1713983712

[1713983712]

1713983712

[hosseinimr93]

I recently stumbled across a private key with 98 characters that starts with "3".

Are you sure that's a bitcoin private key? Maybe, it's an altcoin private key.

As far as I know, bitcoin private keys only starts with 5, K or L and is 51 and 52 characters long.

A private key starting with 5, K and L and including 51 or 52 characters is a WIF private key. That's the most common format of a bitcoin private key.
A private key can have other formats as well. For example, a private key can be in hexadecimal format and includes 64 characters (0-9 and A-F) or it can be a mini private key and includes only 22 or 30 characters.

[OmegaStarScream]

hello there! how are you doing? I hope you all fine.
I recently stumbled across a private key with 98 characters that starts with "3". As far as I know, bitcoin private keys only starts with 5, K or L and is 51 and 52 characters long. Anyone has an ideia of what it is?

Are you certain it's a bitcoin private key? If so, maybe you encrypted it? It's definitely not a BIP38 encryption though.

[TheMeisterL]

I recently stumbled across a private key with 98 characters that starts with "3".

Are you sure that's a bitcoin private key? Maybe, it's an altcoin private key.

Yes. Where I find it mentions that this is a bitcoin private key.

As far as I know, bitcoin private keys only starts with 5, K or L and is 51 and 52 characters long.

A private key starting with 5, K and L and including 51 or 52 characters is a WIF private key. That's the most common format of a bitcoin private key.
A private key can have other formats as well. For example, a private key can be in hexadecimal format and includes 64 characters (0-9 and A-F) or it can be a mini private key and includes only 22 or 30 characters.

I will search about it. Isn't Hex because there are characters out of the hexadecimal range.

hello there! how are you doing? I hope you all fine.
I recently stumbled across a private key with 98 characters that starts with "3". As far as I know, bitcoin private keys only starts with 5, K or L and is 51 and 52 characters long. Anyone has an ideia of what it is?

Are you certain it's a bitcoin private key? If so, maybe you encrypted it? It's definitely not a BIP38 encryption though.

Yes and no. Where I find it mentions that this is a bitcoin private key and this key was already encrypted that way.

[moderator's note: consecutive posts merged]

[seoincorporation]

hello there! how are you doing? I hope you all fine.
I recently stumbled across a private key with 98 characters that starts with "3". As far as I know, bitcoin private keys only starts with 5, K or L and is 51 and 52 characters long. Anyone has an ideia of what it is?

Are you certain it's a bitcoin private key? If so, maybe you encrypted it? It's definitely not a BIP38 encryption though.

Yes and no. Where I find it mentions that this is a bitcoin private key and this key was already encrypted that way.

Then we have 2 options:

1.-You are dealing with a brain wallet.
2.-You are dealing with an unknown encryption

To see if you are dealing with a Passphrase address you could use a service like this one to get the real private key.
https://brainwalletx.github.io/

And if the scenario is the second one, then to get the private key you will need to find the right way to decrypt that wallet, maybe you could get more data from the same place where you get the key.

[TheMeisterL]

hello there! how are you doing? I hope you all fine.
I recently stumbled across a private key with 98 characters that starts with "3". As far as I know, bitcoin private keys only starts with 5, K or L and is 51 and 52 characters long. Anyone has an ideia of what it is?

Are you certain it's a bitcoin private key? If so, maybe you encrypted it? It's definitely not a BIP38 encryption though.

Yes and no. Where I find it mentions that this is a bitcoin private key and this key was already encrypted that way.

Then we have 2 options:

1.-You are dealing with a brain wallet.
2.-You are dealing with an unknown encryption

To see if you are dealing with a Passphrase address you could use a service like this one to get the real private key.
https://brainwalletx.github.io/

And if the scenario is the second one, then to get the private key you will need to find the right way to decrypt that wallet, maybe you could get more data from the same place where you get the key.

Tried the First one, nothing. Went back to where I found the Key and managed to get the address, hash160 and public key on that place, but nothing regarding the type of encryption used there. But searching on Google, I found another person trying to decrypt a Key with 98 characters, but the Key started with E and the post didn't has the answer.

[odolvlobo]

There are other possible encodings. How about base-64?

Revealing the characters in the key without revealing the key itself would help determine the encoding.

[pooya87]

Take a look at this topic that lists different encodings https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4959742.0.

But the problem here is that your string is using a nonstandard uncommon encoding and data structure, it is extremely difficult for us to "guess" what it is! It could be literary anything from arbitrary data that has nothing to do with bitcoin private key to encrypted key including the IV and extra information which again requires knowing the algorithm used to be able to decode and decrypt it.

You should start by first figuring out the encoding that was used to encode the data here (eg. base64).
Then decode the string to get the raw bytes out to know the size (eg. 68 bytes).
Then you have to figure out what part of it is the key which is 32 bytes (eg. first 32 bytes is the key, the second is the IV and the last 4 bytes are salt; or maybe first is salt, second key and finally IV).
Then you have to figure out the encryption method used (eg. AES256 ECB or CBC or ...) and where the salt (assuming it exists) were used (eg. in scrypt or PBKDF2 and with what settings).

So as you can see it is better if you tell us how you came across this string and why do you even think it is a bitcoin key?

[TheMeisterL]

There are other possible encodings. How about base-64?

Revealing the characters in the key without revealing the key itself would help determine the encoding.

I Will try base64.

[seoincorporation]

There are other possible encodings. How about base-64?

Revealing the characters in the key without revealing the key itself would help determine the encoding.

I Will try base64.

I was thinking about this topic in the morning, and the 98 number could be the sum of the 34 digits from the addres and the 64 of the Hex private key.

Something like this:

1FC3ZHNN1RBCwkjxBn92xpaNvVCg22AA7nbf4d44b323c173803f7c68d30acdf331ad85efacf0afbbd7e3a86c1930fd6000

That would explain the non hex chars on your key.

I would like to recommend the next tool to make some test and try to find the private key, the hash160 and public key you mention before is the right hint to find the private key:

https://secretscan.org/PrivateKeyHex

[TheMeisterL]

There are other possible encodings. How about base-64?

Revealing the characters in the key without revealing the key itself would help determine the encoding.

I Will try base64.

I was thinking about this topic in the morning, and the 98 number could be the sum of the 34 digits from the addres and the 64 of the Hex private key.

Something like this:

1FC3ZHNN1RBCwkjxBn92xpaNvVCg22AA7nbf4d44b323c173803f7c68d30acdf331ad85efacf0afbbd7e3a86c1930fd6000

That would explain the non hex chars on your key.

I would like to recommend the next tool to make some test and try to find the private key, the hash160 and public key you mention before is the right hint to find the private key:

https://secretscan.org/PrivateKeyHex

https://i.imgur.com/5btiO5Z.png

The problem is, the entire string has non-hex characters. It starts with 3jJ and finish with 49n.

[casinotester0001]

The problem is, the entire string has non-hex characters. It starts with 3jJ and finish with 49n.

Maybe you have to hash it (1x, 2x) and use the outcome as private key HEX? [unlikely, but why not to try it?  ]

[TheMeisterL]

The problem is, the entire string has non-hex characters. It starts with 3jJ and finish with 49n.

Maybe you have to hash it (1x, 2x) and use the outcome as private key HEX? [unlikely, but why not to try it?  ]

Resulted in nothing. But at least I tried lmao

Take a look at this topic that lists different encodings https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4959742.0.

But the problem here is that your string is using a nonstandard uncommon encoding and data structure, it is extremely difficult for us to "guess" what it is! It could be literary anything from arbitrary data that has nothing to do with bitcoin private key to encrypted key including the IV and extra information which again requires knowing the algorithm used to be able to decode and decrypt it.

You should start by first figuring out the encoding that was used to encode the data here (eg. base64).
Then decode the string to get the raw bytes out to know the size (eg. 68 bytes).
Then you have to figure out what part of it is the key which is 32 bytes (eg. first 32 bytes is the key, the second is the IV and the last 4 bytes are salt; or maybe first is salt, second key and finally IV).
Then you have to figure out the encryption method used (eg. AES256 ECB or CBC or ...) and where the salt (assuming it exists) were used (eg. in scrypt or PBKDF2 and with what settings).

So as you can see it is better if you tell us how you came across this string and why do you even think it is a bitcoin key?

I'm afraid I cant tell how I stumbled across this key, but I can tell that this is a bitcoin key because where I found It, mentions that this is a private key of a lost wallet. And what my post aint the only one mentioning bitcoin private key with 98 characters.

[moderator's note: consecutive posts merged]

[pooya87]

~
I'm afraid I cant tell how I stumbled across this key, but I can tell that this is a bitcoin key because where I found It, mentions that this is a private key of a lost wallet. And what my post aint the only one mentioning bitcoin private key with 98 characters.

Did you manage to decode the string to its byte array representation to have more information about the actual data?
This project called FinderOuter has a decoder that you could use to quickly check your string with 5 common encoding algorithm used in Bitcoin and see if any of them can decode it and see the decoded data in hex with its length.

[TheMeisterL]

~
I'm afraid I cant tell how I stumbled across this key, but I can tell that this is a bitcoin key because where I found It, mentions that this is a private key of a lost wallet. And what my post aint the only one mentioning bitcoin private key with 98 characters.

Did you manage to decode the string to its byte array representation to have more information about the actual data?
This project called FinderOuter has a decoder that you could use to quickly check your string with 5 common encoding algorithm used in Bitcoin and see if any of them can decode it and see the decoded data in hex with its length.

I didn't tried the finderouter, but Ive found in the Apple website a cryptography called "SECG" that has 97 characters. Do you know something about It?

[BlackHatCoiner]

The first question that comes to my mind is: where did you stumble across it? Unlikely that you made it, otherwise you'd know what that means. Did you find it on educational website? Also unlikely, because it'd explain you what that means. So, my conclusion is that someone sold it to you?

There's no standard I know with 98 characters long private keys.

[odolvlobo]

I didn't tried the finderouter, but Ive found in the Apple website a cryptography called "SECG" that has 97 characters. Do you know something about It?

The first thing you need to determine is the encoding. You can't determine if or how the data is encrypted before you determine the encoding.

[TheMeisterL]

The first question that comes to my mind is: where did you stumble across it? Unlikely that you made it, otherwise you'd know what that means. Did you find it on educational website? Also unlikely, because it'd explain you what that means. So, my conclusion is that someone sold it to you?

There's no standard I know with 98 characters long private keys.

A coworker asked me If there is a better way to find someone on Google (She is a secretary. sometimes our boss asks her to contact someone in particular) and Ive decided to teach Google Dorking to her. While I was teaching her, Ive stumbled across a file that cointained some infos (and this private Key). I was curious because I never saw a Private Key that long and searching about It, I found nothing. Ive decided to post It here because maybe this could be a really strong encoding metod there is worth to use.

I didn't tried the finderouter, but Ive found in the Apple website a cryptography called "SECG" that has 97 characters. Do you know something about It?

The first thing you need to determine is the encoding. You can't determine if or how the data is encrypted before you determine the encoding.

I miswrited It, srry. English isn't my Native language and I may mess up with some words. Anyway, "SECG" is a encoding method that produces 97 characters long private keys.

[moderator's note: consecutive posts merged]

[casinotester0001]

~

Do you have the url where you found it?

[TheMeisterL]

~

Do you have the url where you found it?

Nope, but I can search on my job's Pc in order to find It.