For questions relating to encryption operations and algorithms as they apply to crypto-currencies specifically.
-2
votes
1answer
76 views
micro transaction framework [closed]
I am interested in designing a framework to handle many thousands of small micro transactions inside software, i am taking inspiration from BitCoin, but I am unable to implement bitcoin directly ...
4
votes
2answers
88 views
Do keypool keys from an unencrypted wallet backup become unusable once I encrypt my wallet?
I'm a little confused by this, which i found in the technical documention:
When wallet passphrase enrcyption becomes enabled, any unused keys
from the keypool are flushed (marked as used) and ...
7
votes
1answer
270 views
How does the Electrum wallet encryption work?
Nube bitcoin question... I created an electrum wallet, and can find it under appdata on my windows machine. When creating it I set up a pass phrase and password. I sent a small transaction into one ...
3
votes
1answer
93 views
Does a Vanity Address reduce the randomness / entropy of the private key? Is there cryptographic proof?
Since a vanity address discards many "valid" keys in order to find one that matches a pre-determined string, I think that the "randomness" of the data would be reduced, thus weakening the key.
Is ...
2
votes
0answers
61 views
Is this the proper way to use Bouncy Castle to generate a Bitcoin compatible key?
I'd like to use Bouncy Castle to generate the keypair for use with all *coin variants.
Is this the correct implementation to get the correct ECC curve that the *coin variants use?
...
2
votes
2answers
97 views
How does an encrypted wallet persist used keys from “getnewaddress” and the keypool after a restart?
I'm reading this wiki on wallet encryption and am confused on how I can call getnewaddress as described here and where that is being tracked after a restart of bitcoind.
When a wallet is ...
2
votes
2answers
77 views
Does FIPS 140-2 crypto certification matter for Bitcoin?
I'm implementing part of the Bitcoin client in C# and noticed that I have the choice between FIPS 140-2 and non certified versions of SHA256. Supposedly both versions give the same hash.
Does the ...
4
votes
0answers
252 views
What OpenCL video cards (or FPGAs) are best for multiplication?
I'm benchmarking some Bitcoin related software and am looking for cards that are better at parallel multiplication vs parallel addition.
Is there any prior work that may have this information? ...
2
votes
2answers
148 views
How can I test and verify a vanity key before I send coins to it?
I ran vanitygen and oclvanitygen on the same machine, and realized after my run that both exe's share the same output file.
I've had experience in the past where many programs append to the same TXT ...
6
votes
1answer
866 views
Forgot wallet encryption password, are any brute force tools available? [duplicate]
I have an idea of what my password should be, but am missing something.
Are there any tools or bash scripts to brute force my wallet passwords?
If a dictionary is required, I can pre seed it as ...
3
votes
2answers
257 views
Does the public key associated with an address become part of the public record after it has been used to spend?
Since bitcoin addresses are hashes of public keys and not public keys as such, if one wanted to craft a message that could be decrypted by the generator of an address, that can't be done just with an ...
5
votes
1answer
188 views
Where and how is secp256k1 used within Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is unique that is uses secp256k1 to secure it's transactions; and any cryptographic attack against this algorithm is probably going to be percieved as an attack against the bitcoin network.
...
2
votes
0answers
94 views
Is there a way to import a private key already protected with the passphrase?
Let's say I have a hot wallet that has passphrase encryption enabled. Then let's say a large withdrawal needs to occur but the hot wallet has insufficient funds and a transfer from cold storage is ...
8
votes
1answer
782 views
How does bitcoind generate a new address if the wallet is encrypted
Suppose that my wallet is encrypted with a passphase and currently I have not provided bitcoind with the passphrase to access the private keys section of the wallet.
If I enter:
bitcoind ...
3
votes
1answer
174 views
How complex can my bitcoin wallet encryption key be?
What are the requirements and limitations of the password that the satoshi bitcoin wallet allows the user to set?
5
votes
1answer
2k views
How to import a private key to an encrypted wallet (on standard client)
I have a standard client (QT client on OSX) with an encrypted wallet. I've tried to import keys with pywallet, but while it claimed to be importing them, when I ran again the bitcoin client, it said ...
10
votes
1answer
1k views
Are there Bitcoin password crackers I can use to recover forgotten passwords?
I've lost the password to one of my wallets (it's a small one, don't worry). I was sure I remembered the password ... but evidently I don't.
Is there a program that I can use to brute-force my ...
13
votes
3answers
3k views
How long would it take a large computer to crack a private key?
I am doing a presentation on Bitcoins and I was looking for some calculations to make people feel safe about the private key encryption. Please first answer, how long in bytes the private key is, ...
4
votes
1answer
230 views
What happens when an encrypted wallet runs out of keys?
Say someone wanted to be evil to the main client and set its wallet to contain one key, lock it, and then start mining. After the first block was generated, the client would traditionally create a new ...
4
votes
1answer
120 views
Is two-phase encryption planned for the standard client?
Currently, the standard client supports encryption, but only for actions that change its state (send money, generate address).
I would like the client to require two passwords - one to view any ...
1
vote
3answers
178 views
Where can I go to read up on encryption methods used in Bitcoin?
Where can I go to read up on encryption methods used in Bitcoin? I am particularly interested in the idea that I can use a private key to sign something and it proves to the world I have the private ...
4
votes
3answers
2k views
How do I unlock, decrypt, Bitcoin wallet?
I'm new to Bitcoins and I downloaded the new beta version with the encrypted wallet. I encrypted my wallet but I have no idea on how to decrypt it. It is locked. How can I unlock/decrypt my wallet?
...
3
votes
1answer
295 views
Does Bitcoin wallet encryption also protect my sending and receiving addresses?
Bitcoin wallet encryption makes sure (by encrypting the private keys with a passphrase) that someone who finds your computer or your Dropbox or your backup drive (including wallet.dat) cannot spend ...
9
votes
1answer
318 views
Does the BerkeleyDB-based wallet.dat implementation leak private key data?
I read this little nugget on the bitcoin client bug tracker:
the bdb binary log files can also contain sensitive data such as private keys
Is that true? Does this mean that even with an ...
3
votes
1answer
127 views
How do we have one-to-one mapping given the key size differences?
If public keys are 34 characters long, and private keys are 61 characters long, then the combinations of 34 characters is not sufficient to give each combination of 61 characters a unique pair.
My ...
5
votes
1answer
443 views
Why does the length of a bitcoin key vary?
Why does the length of a bitcoin key vary? Why aren't they all the same length?
5
votes
2answers
589 views
If I lost my public keys, could I recover them from the private key? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How are public & private keys in an address created?
If I lost my public key, but still have the private key, is it possible to recreate the public keys.
How many ...
6
votes
1answer
354 views
How to Call JSON-RPC SendToAddress when the Wallet is Encrypted?
I'm using JSON-RPC to send commands to my bitcoind, and it works fine.
Now I want to encrypt my wallet. When I've done that, I will need to send the passphrase when calling SendToAddress. How do I do ...
10
votes
2answers
224 views
Can I force my wallet to only have news keys, post-encryption?
Now that v0.4 of the bitcoin client has encryption I've gone ahead and encrypted the keys in my wallet. But I had previously made backups of my (unencrypted) wallet and those keys are the same keys ...
23
votes
8answers
2k views
How can I keep my wallet secure?
The standard Bitcoin client does not encrypt wallet files, so any malicious user that gains access to this file will be able to transfer all the coins to their own wallet. Furthermore, if I lose the ...
