I'm just having a little issue trying to sign a message with my Bitcoin address.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

It's a new month already here in my country, so happy new month, folks.

First of all, the Bitcoin address that I am using on this forum is just from a mobile wallet on my phone (Trust wallet), and it doesn't allow someone to generate a private key; it only has the 12 mnemonic phrases for importing and recovering wallets. But currently, I want to sign a message with my Bitcoin address, and I need a private key to do that.

I have signed in to https://iancoleman.io/bip39/ and pasted my wallet 12 mnemonic phrase to generate my Bitcoin private key, but the challenge I am facing now is that after pasting my wallet phrase to that site, https://iancoleman.io/bip39/, the Bitcoin address I am getting is different from the one I have on my mobile Bitcoin wallet.

Bitcoin wallet address from  https://iancoleman.io/bip39/ ::: 17Hx6jpYR9Px1msJpaLX3CkHZJEabHBQW8

Bitcoin wallet on the mobile wallet app that am using: bc1qjtxdgh5ru3f09gzrupcken2r0lxqjwur95zlh7

I'm just having a little issue trying to sign a message with my Bitcoin address.

It's a new month already here in my country, so happy new month, folks.

First of all, the Bitcoin address that I am using on this forum is just from a mobile wallet on my phone (Trust wallet), and it doesn't allow someone to generate a private key; it only has the 12 mnemonic phrases for importing and recovering wallets. But currently, I want to sign a message with my Bitcoin address, and I need a private key to do that.

I have signed in to https://iancoleman.io/bip39/ and pasted my wallet 12 mnemonic phrase to generate my Bitcoin private, but the challenge I am facing now is that after pasting my wallet phrase to that site, https://iancoleman.io/bip39/, the Bitcoin address I am getting is different from the one I have on my mobile Bitcoin wallet.

Bitcoin wallet address from  https://iancoleman.io/bip39/ ::: 17Hx6jpYR9Px1msJpaLX3CkHZJEabHBQW8

Bitcoin on the mobile wallet app that am using: bc1qjtxdgh5ru3f09gzrupcken2r0lxqjwur95zlh7

here is my question; Why is the Bitcoin wallet different? are they not supposed to be same Bitcoin address.

Although, I copied the privet key I got from the site and used it to sign the message below.


-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hi, I'm Dr.Bitcoin_Strange trying to sign a Bitcoin message. Cheers.
-----BEGIN SIGNATURE-----
17Hx6jpYR9Px1msJpaLX3CkHZJEabHBQW8
H5Ha23GDdIGahraepgG5k0WMoOZ/CkI5NO+af0nQ6nhG8Zj3NE3XjySiggpUYahiGqLMUZdpc66kT2nfCGIAu/o=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----

[Nwada001]

You don't have to go all the way through those processes just to sign in to a message for security reasons so as not to visit the wrong site and give away your password just to generate a working private key.
Since you are a TrustWallet user, which was already not a regular recommended wallet,

If you are using a mobile device, you can download BlueWallet from your Play Store or App Store, and you can import your wallet using your wallet phrase. When doing that, select the Bitcoin option, and when the wallet has successfully been imported, You click on the imported wallet and are taken to the next page, where you can click on the 3 dot on the right top corner of the wallet, and you will see the sign-in message option among others.

Edit: Just tested the Blue wallet sign in message and this is what I got..
https://bluewallet.github.io/VerifySignature?a=bc1qaql8wk9x8h69lwutymah53sv5d8zzcmw3vvw80&m=Nwada001%20confirming%20how%20this%20sign%20in%20works%20for%20validity%20purpose%20on%20the%201st%20September%202023%E2%80%A6%20%0A%0Abtt%20ID%3A%20Nwada001&s=J2muiUA8KkOWvv2HG0zxrlcVFnix5uIjY9PIuHT%2BJQ9vHbOJlf3xiGuOpFQjmUjzoXmfwGipatH%2BHq1EQR9Zqgc%3D

[Charles-Tim]

Your seed phrase will generate the private keys. Import your seed phrase on Electrum, Sparrow, Specter or Bluewallet and use any of the wallet to sign a message.

If you still want to use iancoleman, you have to change the derivation path from BIP44 to BIP84 and you will see your address and the private key.





For security, do not use iancoleman online website, download it offline to use on a word editor.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

If you are using a mobile device, you can download BlueWallet from your Play Store or App Store, and you can import your wallet using your wallet phrase. When doing that, select the Bitcoin option, and when the wallet has successfully been imported, You click on the imported wallet and are taken to the next page, where you can click on the 3 dot on the right top corner of the wallet, and you will see the sign-in message option among others.

Edit: Just tested the Blue wallet sign in message and this is what I got..
https://bluewallet.github.io/VerifySignature?a=bc1qaql8wk9x8h69lwutymah53sv5d8zzcmw3vvw80&m=Nwada001%20confirming%20how%20this%20sign%20in%20works%20for%20validity%20purpose%20on%20the%201st%20September%202023%E2%80%A6%20%0A%0Abtt%20ID%3A%20Nwada001&s=J2muiUA8KkOWvv2HG0zxrlcVFnix5uIjY9PIuHT%2BJQ9vHbOJlf3xiGuOpFQjmUjzoXmfwGipatH%2BHq1EQR9Zqgc%3D

Thanks, Nwada001, for this. Although I don't usually see this kind of signed message on this forum, it's mostly used with the Ian Coleman (as mentioned by CT) method. I hope this will also be accepted here @charles-tim and @LoyceV

Your seed phrase will generate the private keys. Import your seed phrase on Electrum, Sparrow, Specter or Bluewallet and use any of the wallet to sign a message.

If you still want to use iancoleman, you have to change the derivation path from BIP44 to BIP84 and you will see your address and the private key.





For security, do not use iancoleman online website, download the it offline to use on a word editor.

Oh, wow. It worked. The address is now the same after I changed it to BIP84. I've never tried that before. thanks Charles-Tim. I think I should use the blue wallet since it is available on mobile.

Although I also found this site https://reinproject.org/bitcoin-signature-tool/#sign, which I can use to sign and verify messages, after signing the message and trying to verify it, the Bitcoin wallet address has again changed to the first one from the Ian Coleman site.

[pooya87]

Although I also found this site https://reinproject.org/bitcoin-signature-tool/#sign, which I can use to sign and verify messages, after signing the message and trying to verify it, the Bitcoin wallet address has again changed to the first one from the Ian Coleman site.

You may want to change your wallet and discard your seed since you seem to have entered it into so many online websites so far. When you do things like this, there is a chance that you leak your keys!

As for the website you shared, it doesn't seem to be using a deterministic algorithm to generate the ephemeral key needed for creating an ECDSA signature which could be a source of some possible vulnerabilities. For example if it uses a weak key, after you share the signed message + signature your private key could be leaked.
This is why you should always try to stick to popular wallets that are well tested and reviewed not any random tool you find on the internet.

[Charles-Tim]

Oh, wow. It worked. The address is now the same after I changed it to BIP84. I've never tried that before. thanks Charles-Tim. I think I should use the blue wallet since it is available on mobile.

Because you input your seed phrase on incoleman already, if your first attempt was online and you have sent coins to the addresses of the seed phrase, I will advice you to send your coins to another wallet which you will newly create now. Do not trust anything online.

I see no point in using iancoleman at all when there are wallets that support segwit address message signing. You can use Bluewallet instead.

Trustwallwt is a close source wallet, I have mentioned some wallets up which are recommended for your bitcoin. Generate a new seed seed phrase, keys and addresses on such wallets (Bitcoin Core, Electrum, Sparrow, Specter or Bluewallet) and send your coins there.

For high amount of coins, you can go for an open source airgapped wallet like Electrum cold storage which you can be able to setup using other reputed wallets as well . https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/coldstorage.html

Or you can go for open source wallet like Passport (bitcoin-only wallet) or Trezor for multicoins. Avoid Trezor coinjoin, it is from Wasabi. If you need coinjoin, go for Whirlpool on Sparrow or Samourai wallet.

[LoyceV]

For security, do not use iancoleman online website, download the it offline to use on a word editor.

Say what?

You may want to change your wallet and discard your seed since you seem to have entered it into so many online websites so far. When you do things like this, there is a chance that you leak your keys!

Listen to this guy!

You made so many mistakes..... First, it sounds like you've entered your seed phrase on at least one website. You should NEVER do that! I can't emphasize enough how bad this is. You should take handling private keys much more serious. Second: signing a message on mobile is annoying. Third: why do you want to sign a message anyway? The address you're signing from is empty. You can install as many wallets as you want, get a new wallet with a new seed phrase on a computer and sign an address there.
Oh, and first: forget about your current wallet. Create a new one, move all your funds. Keep you old wallet, but mark it COMPROMISED and never use it again.

[nc50lc]

-snip-
Although I also found this site https://reinproject.org/bitcoin-signature-tool/#sign, which I can use to sign and verify messages, after signing the message and trying to verify it, the Bitcoin wallet address has again changed to the first one from the Ian Coleman site.

I checked the tool and all it does is to automatically derive the p2pkh address from the provided private key, it doesn't take an address input.
So you couldn't have used the native SegWit address to sign the message in the first place.

Also, for the address that you mentioned that changed to the one in IanColeman:
It can't be the same address from your BIP44 derivation path since the private key from BIP84 derivation path is different.
If you provided the prvKey of your native SegWit address derived from seed with BIP84 derivation path, the signing tool shouldn't derive your legacy address from BIP44 derivation path.
It may look similar because the tool only derives addresses that start with '1', maybe you just mistook it for the first address or provided its private key.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

You may want to change your wallet and discard your seed since you seem to have entered it into so many online websites so far. When you do things like this, there is a chance that you leak your keys!

Because you input your seed phrase on incoleman already, if your first attempt was online and you have sent coins to the addresses of the seed phrase, I will advice you to send your coins to another wallet which you will newly create now. Do not trust anything online.

You made so many mistakes..... First, it sounds like you've entered your seed phrase on at least one website. You should NEVER do that! I can't emphasize enough how bad this is. You should take handling private keys much more serious. Second: signing a message on mobile is annoying.

It's just as if I knew that thing was going to get complicated and my security would be leaked or something, which is why I created a new address just to text the process of signing the message first. My old wallet is still secure because I did not use it to carry out this process.

Thanks for all the help. I appreciate

Third: why do you want to sign a message anyway? The address you're signing from is empty.

I want to sign the message with my old Bitcoin wallet to prove that it is still my own. This new wallet is empty because I just created it today.

Oh, and first: forget about your current wallet. Create a new one, move all your funds. Keep you old wallet, but mark it COMPROMISED and never use it again.

Although it's not yet compromised, I want to try the message on the below quote first, and if the result is not acceptable, then I will have to do something crazy that might lead to my security being leaked, and I will just have to do what you have instructed if it happens. thanks

I see no point in using iancoleman at all when there are wallets that support segwit address message signing. You can use Bluewallet instead.

[Charles-Tim]

@Dr.Bitcoin_Strange
But about Trustwallet, it is just one of the worst bitcoin wallet.

It is a close source wallet
It is not having replace-by-fee
Not having anything like address freeze or coin control
It can not generate new addresses (it has just only one bitcoin address)
Trustwallet bitcoin users do report error while making transaction. If need be, I can point to three or so on this forum. We told them to import the seed on Electrum and they were able to spend their coins.

Advice:

Trustwallwt is a close source wallet, I have mentioned some wallets up which are recommended for your bitcoin. Generate a new seed seed phrase, keys and addresses on such wallets (Bitcoin Core, Electrum, Sparrow, Specter or Bluewallet) and send your coins there.

Other reason that I can not use Trustwallet:

Not supporting multisig
Can not create PSBT

[LoyceMobile]

It's just as if I knew that thing was going to get complicated and my security would be leaked or something, which is why I created a new address just to text the process of signing the message first. My old wallet is still secure because I did not use it to carry out this process.

Did you create a new address, or a new wallet? It matters when you're exposing the seed.

[BlackHatCoiner]

I think the replies covered the parts where:

• you shouldn't be using Trustwallet in the first place, and
• you shouldn't be copy-pasting your seed phrase.

What I think it's worth to know, is that, unless you use hardened addresses (which is unlikely if you're having BIP39 seed phrase), compromising just one private key can lead into compromising the entire wallet. If someone knows your master public key (which can happen if you don't run your own node and use a software which sends xpubs to SPV servers), and just one private key from your wallet can allow them work out every private key from your wallet due to the nature of extended private keys.

Move to a new wallet.

[odolvlobo]

But currently, I want to sign a message with my Bitcoin address, and I need a private key to do that.

First, it is a mistake to think of a bitcoin address as something like a phone number or email address or street address or account number. Every time your wallet receives bitcoins it will generate a new address. Your wallet may eventually generate thousands of addresses, so it is wrong to think of one of them as "my address". It is better to think of an address as something more like an invoice number.

However, when you want to use an address to sign messages, you are choosing that address to be associated with your identity and it becomes your "signing address". And for privacy reasons, it is better if your signing address is never used to send or receive bitcoins. You may be asked to sign a message with an address to prove that you control the address. That's different.

Pick a wallet that allows you to reserve an address for signing messages. Use that wallet to sign messages and don't mess around with private keys. The wallet can also hold your bitcoins, but it is not required.

[DYING_S0UL]

@Dr.Bitcoin_Strange
But about Trustwallet, it is just one of the worst bitcoin wallet.

It is a close source wallet
It is not having replace-by-fee
Not having anything like address freeze or coin control
It can not generate new addresses (it has just only one bitcoin address)
Trustwallet bitcoin users do report error while making transaction. If need be, I can point to three or so on this forum. We told them to import the seed on Electrum and they were able to spend their coins.

Advice:

Trustwallwt is a close source wallet, I have mentioned some wallets up which are recommended for your bitcoin. Generate a new seed seed phrase, keys and addresses on such wallets (Bitcoin Core, Electrum, Sparrow, Specter or Bluewallet) and send your coins there.

Other reason that I can not use Trustwallet:

Not supporting multisig
Can not create PSBT

I am currently using trust wallet (0 balance)
So I am asking for which wallet should I use for store my assets? (Android)

& can you please provide the link or pic to the wallet because there can be many similar or fake apps!

[LoyceV]

So I am asking for which wallet should I use for store my assets? (Android)

I like this answer:

Here's my solution: Electrum for Bitcoin and Monerujo for Monero. Sell all your shitcoins for one of these two.

& can you please provide the link or pic to the wallet because there can be many similar or fake apps!

Always DYOR, even if you find links on Bitcointalk, you should check if it's the correct one.

[DYING_S0UL]

So I am asking for which wallet should I use for store my assets? (Android)

I like this answer:

Here's my solution: Electrum for Bitcoin and Monerujo for Monero. Sell all your shitcoins for one of these two.

& can you please provide the link or pic to the wallet because there can be many similar or fake apps!

Always DYOR, even if you find links on Bitcointalk, you should check if it's the correct one.

Well if there are any official website for the wallet please provide one. Even if I found one in play store I wouldn't be sure if its real or fake. I should stick to the Bitcoin experts.

[logfiles]

Well if there are any official website for the wallet please provide one. Even if I found one in play store I wouldn't be sure if its real or fake. I should stick to the Bitcoin experts.

Electrum wallet -->> https://electrum.org (Do not just trust, verify. Please make sure you first Verify GPG signatures before you install the wallet)
Unstoppable wallet -->> https://horizontalsystems.io (you will get links to their GitHub from the site like this one https://github.com/horizontalsystems/unstoppable-wallet-android/releases) This one supports Bitcoin and some altcoins

Try to use Walletscrutinyto guide you on the kind of wallet which is most suitable. Focus on Open source, security, reproducibility.

Bitcoin.org can be user-friendly to a newbie looking into wallets https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet
But generally I encourage you to read and DYOR. It's the only way of learning new things rather than being spoon-fed.