Easier way to send a signed message from a Bitcoin address?

[Lorenzo]

I can easily see how signing a message from a Bitcoin address might seem daunting and complex to those who have never done it before. So my question is this; couldn't an automated way be implemented? In order to sign a message from a Bitcoin address, all that is needed is a private key and the address. The output would consist of the signed message and perhaps a timestamp for added security. How might something like this be implemented in pseudocode?

[1715023273]

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[EcuaMobi]

I can easily see how signing a message from a Bitcoin address might seem daunting and complex to those who have never done it before. So my question is this; couldn't an automated way be implemented? In order to sign a message from a Bitcoin address, all that is needed is a private key and the address. The output would consist of the signed message and perhaps a timestamp for added security. How might something like this be implemented in pseudocode?

You can easily do it programmatically with this bitcoind/Json-RPC command:

Code:

signmessage <bitcoinaddress> <message>

The problem is you need the private key to do that so it wouldn't be secure at all to implement an online service for this. An offline service wouldn't make sense because wallets already do that. Can you explain better an use of case your proposing?

[Lorenzo]

I can easily see how signing a message from a Bitcoin address might seem daunting and complex to those who have never done it before. So my question is this; couldn't an automated way be implemented? In order to sign a message from a Bitcoin address, all that is needed is a private key and the address. The output would consist of the signed message and perhaps a timestamp for added security. How might something like this be implemented in pseudocode?

You can easily do it programmatically with this bitcoind/Json-RPC command:

Code:

signmessage <bitcoinaddress> <message>

The problem is you need the private key to do that so it wouldn't be secure at all to implement an online service for this. An offline service wouldn't make sense because wallets already do that. Can you explain better an use of case your proposing?

I was thinking along the lines of an offline program where you would simply paste in your private key in one field and your message in another field and the program would generate a signed message as the output with the option of including a timestamp if required.

An online service might work if the code was written in verifiable JavaScript and executed client-side.

[kowwip]

How to sign a message for a bitcoin address? I saw that on Bitcoin wallet but I don't know how to use that feature? Please help me !

Thanks a lot !

[EcuaMobi]

I can easily see how signing a message from a Bitcoin address might seem daunting and complex to those who have never done it before. So my question is this; couldn't an automated way be implemented? In order to sign a message from a Bitcoin address, all that is needed is a private key and the address. The output would consist of the signed message and perhaps a timestamp for added security. How might something like this be implemented in pseudocode?

You can easily do it programmatically with this bitcoind/Json-RPC command:

Code:

signmessage <bitcoinaddress> <message>

The problem is you need the private key to do that so it wouldn't be secure at all to implement an online service for this. An offline service wouldn't make sense because wallets already do that. Can you explain better an use of case your proposing?

I was thinking along the lines of an offline program where you would simply paste in your private key in one field and your message in another field and the program would generate a signed message as the output with the option of including a timestamp if required.

An online service might work if the code was written in verifiable JavaScript and executed client-side.

Well actually that already exists:
https://brainwallet.github.io/#sign
But to be honest I don't think that's very useful. Do you usually have private keys as plain text rather than on a wallet?

However I do use their verify functionality quite often:
https://brainwallet.github.io/#verify

How to sign a message for a bitcoin address? I saw that on Bitcoin wallet but I don't know how to use that feature? Please help me !

Thanks a lot !

Here you go:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=990345.0

[Lorenzo]

I was thinking along the lines of an offline program where you would simply paste in your private key in one field and your message in another field and the program would generate a signed message as the output with the option of including a timestamp if required.

An online service might work if the code was written in verifiable JavaScript and executed client-side.

Well actually that already exists:
https://brainwallet.github.io/#sign
But to be honest I don't think that's very useful. Do you usually have private keys as plain text rather than on a wallet?

However I do use their verify functionality quite often:
https://brainwallet.github.io/#verify

Hmm... Didn't know that Brainwallet.org supported this feature. Well yeah, that's pretty much exactly what I had in mind. I thought an offline way to do this would be a good idea since I assumed that the process was typically done via the command line which tends to freak newbies out.

How to sign a message for a bitcoin address? I saw that on Bitcoin wallet but I don't know how to use that feature? Please help me !

Thanks a lot !

Here you go:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=990345.0

Very useful link. Thanks. I'll have to bookmark that.