Hi.
Is it possible to provably associate a new Bitcoin wallet address with a JPG photo (or some other digital file) by basing it on the address on a hash of that file?
Given the file, one should be able to verify that the address "came" from the file, among other sources.
This is similar to what services like
http://www.proofofexistence.com/ that record & time-stamp a hash of a file in the blockchain via provably un-spendable transactions, but can this be done for a working receiving wallet address?
What would that be used for?
I can see people wanting "vanity" wallets based on their mug shot, or a photo of a loved one - the base58 address would still appear random, but just for the idea of it being *based* on something special.
Or maybe the photo can be used as an easily-recognizable "private key", granted most photos are not private.
If the above is possible, a merchant accepting bitcoins can make a wallet based on the picture of the invoice / receipt that he sends to the customer anyway.
I can also think of a use for a wallet that's provably made from a hash of a Craigslist listing page.
I do know that the easiest way to prove you control an address is to sign a message, but that requires more interaction between the two parties.
Thanks.