Spend bitcoins from specific address

[cuboidal]

So.... I was experimenting with bitaddress.org, and printed out a few paper wallets.  Suppose I want to get rid of one.  How can I tell the client to send bitcoins from the paper wallet's (that I want to get rid of) private key only?

[westkybitcoins]

So.... I was experimenting with bitaddress.org, and printed out a few paper wallets.  Suppose I want to get rid of one.  How can I tell the client to send bitcoins from the paper wallet's (that I want to get rid of) private key only?

I'm pretty sure the client doesn't let you do that. Have you already imported that key into your computer's wallet? Have you imported any other keys into the same wallet?

[BurtW]

I assume you sent some of your bitcoins from your standard client program to some of the public addresses you printed out on bitaddress.org.  Hopefully you kept the printouts you used since you now will need the private key to reclaim the bitcoins.

Now you have to import the private key.

There are three placed I know of that allow you to import private keys:

1) Mt Gox - Do you have a Mt Gox account?  If not is kind of painful but may be worth your time.

2) StrongCoin.com - very easy to set up an account and then very easy to import the private key there.  Once you have the bitcoins in your StrongCoin account then you can send them anywhere.  But note that there is a 1% fee to send coins from the StrongCoin account

3) Pywallet - download and install pywallet.  This program attaches itself to you wallet.dat file and allows you to dump the contents etc. and also allows you to import private keys directly into your wallet.dat (your client program).

[casascius]

So.... I was experimenting with bitaddress.org, and printed out a few paper wallets.  Suppose I want to get rid of one.  How can I tell the client to send bitcoins from the paper wallet's (that I want to get rid of) private key only?

This is how I do it... start with an empty wallet... import the key you want to spend... spend it.

I am in the habit of using paper wallets regularly, so having an empty online wallet isn't hard for me.  If I have "change" I need to empty off, I just send it to a fresh paper wallet address (or one that has been used for previous small change, so it's easy to combine it all together).

One other thing that has made my life much easier with respect to paper wallets is a handheld USB QR code scanner.  I also have a cheesy little database app I made that lets me put all the transactions I intend to execute for a given day (which is typically funding physical coins), and combines it into one huge "sendmany" so I can import BTC and transact it all at once.  Doing this, I often avoid transaction fees as well.

[btc_artist]

Spending coins from a given address is also an important step toward better bitcoin privacy. Hoping it gets into the satoshi client sooner rather than later.

[cbeast]

I also have a cheesy little database app I made that lets me put all the transactions I intend to execute for a given day (which is typically funding physical coins), and combines it into one huge "sendmany" so I can import BTC and transact it all at once.  Doing this, I often avoid transaction fees as well.

That "sendmany" app sounds very useful. It will especially be useful for making massive microtransaction payments online by combining the addresses into one Bitcoin transaction.

[btc_artist]

I also have a cheesy little database app I made that lets me put all the transactions I intend to execute for a given day (which is typically funding physical coins), and combines it into one huge "sendmany" so I can import BTC and transact it all at once.  Doing this, I often avoid transaction fees as well.

That "sendmany" app sounds very useful. It will especially be useful for making massive microtransaction payments online by combining the addresses into one Bitcoin transaction.

You can use sendmany directly from the program in v 0.5 of the client.  Just keep adding recipients and when the transaction is ready, click "send".

[cuboidal]

Yeah, I've already imported the keys into my computer's wallet.

So.... I was experimenting with bitaddress.org, and printed out a few paper wallets.  Suppose I want to get rid of one.  How can I tell the client to send bitcoins from the paper wallet's (that I want to get rid of) private key only?

This is how I do it... start with an empty wallet... import the key you want to spend... spend it.

I am in the habit of using paper wallets regularly, so having an empty online wallet isn't hard for me.  If I have "change" I need to empty off, I just send it to a fresh paper wallet address (or one that has been used for previous small change, so it's easy to combine it all together).

One other thing that has made my life much easier with respect to paper wallets is a handheld USB QR code scanner.  I also have a cheesy little database app I made that lets me put all the transactions I intend to execute for a given day (which is typically funding physical coins), and combines it into one huge "sendmany" so I can import BTC and transact it all at once.  Doing this, I often avoid transaction fees as well.

I suppose I could use StrongCoin, but they charge a 1% fee.  I could also use a different wallet on my computer by launching Bitcoin from a separate Windows user account.  Alas, is there no streamlined way?

[btc_artist]

I suppose I could use StrongCoin, but they charge a 1% fee.  I could also use a different wallet on my computer by launching Bitcoin from a separate Windows user account.  Alas, is there no streamlined way?

Yes. just create a shortcut to the bitcoin exe file and add the command line param to change the data directory: bitcoin.exe -datadir mydatadir

[netrin]

Here's another excellent patch that hasn't made it into the C++ client, presumably because it is too useful:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=24784.0

July video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA_O6Boi7Xo

[btc_artist]

Here's another excellent patch that hasn't made it into the C++ client, presumably because it is too useful:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=24784.0

Agreed.

[SgtSpike]

Here's another excellent patch that hasn't made it into the C++ client, presumably because it is too useful:

Why does this seem to be all-too-true with regards to the official client?

[netrin]

Because Satoshi was a Windows developer.

Seriously. Tiny utilities piped together would have been more transparent, stable and extensible.

[btc_artist]

Because Satoshi was a Windows developer.

Seriously. Tiny utilities piped together would have been more transparent, stable and extensible.

There's a lot of truth to this.  Each utility does one job and it does it right.  Slap a GUI on top of that and you're done.  Utilities could be added and the GUI patched to use them, even if they're not from the "reference implementation".

[netrin]

Exactly, it's not like bitcoin is fundamentally complex. It's basically PGP, GIT, and BitTorrent merged poorly.

[cbeast]

Because Satoshi was a Windows developer.

Seriously. Tiny utilities piped together would have been more transparent, stable and extensible.

There's a lot of truth to this.  Each utility does one job and it does it right.  Slap a GUI on top of that and you're done.  Utilities could be added and the GUI patched to use them, even if they're not from the "reference implementation".

I presume a rewrite would still be compatible with the current network. I think if anyone is willing to work on such a project it's worth doing right.

[bccasino]

I would keep the existing client but add an add-on or plugin framework to it so the external tools could be easily included to the standard official client that for most are still the most trusted one even if far from perfect.

[bithobo]

bitcoinspinner (android app) can work directly with a QR code reader. Trusting your phone might not be the smartest thing to do, but it's still perfect for quick and simple transactions

3) Pywallet - download and install pywallet.  This program attaches itself to you wallet.dat file and allows you to dump the contents etc. and also allows you to import private keys directly into your wallet.dat (your client program).

Wow, this really works? Awesome

Yes. just create a shortcut to the bitcoin exe file and add the command line param to change the data directory: bitcoin.exe -datadir mydatadir

This is good to know, but it would be even nicer if there was a parameter just for a wallet file outside the data folder. Then, we could finally name them more auspiciously like notmylifesavings.dat or driverfnord234.dat

[netrin]

I presume a rewrite would still be compatible with the current network. I think if anyone is willing to work on such a project it's worth doing right.

Genjix' libbitcoin fits the bill: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=30646

Bitcoinjs (based on node.js) is quite modular.

and Open-Transactions is a crypto platform/library with heavy bitcoin support.

[fellowtraveler]

I presume a rewrite would still be compatible with the current network. I think if anyone is willing to work on such a project it's worth doing right.

(...)

and Open-Transactions is a crypto platform/library with heavy bitcoin support.

FYI the Open-Transactions library itself doesn't implement Bitcoin, although the test GUI (Moneychanger) does have a Bitcoin screen.

I prefer to view OT as something used "with" Bitcoin.