Bitcoin, in addition to being the most used peer-to-peer digital currency in the world, actually has a useful basic feature: the ability to sign and verify messages.
Bitcoin wallets allow you to securely encrypt messages by signing them, and also allow recipients to verify the authenticity of your messages. All this is achieved only by the public and private keys of the bitcoin address in the wallet. You don’t even need to fund them (you can have an empty wallet, so to speak) to use this feature.
What is the usefulness of doing this?
When signing from a wallet (to authorize a transaction or sign a message), a digital signature simply proves that you know the private key that is connected to the public key (the public key is not publicly available). Bitcoin address). .
A private key is a string of very large numbers that give you control over your Bitcoin wallet. It is used in cryptocurrency transactions to prove ownership of public keys (or blockchain addresses). Think of this as your password. However, using this private key to create a digital signature can be easily verified by others without the need to reveal the private key itself.
Let’s talk about an example of how this can be very helpful in proving your ownership.
User A want to send User B some bitcoins.However User A I want to send only to User BIt’s your wallet, not someone else’s wallet or exchange.yes User B Offers Bitcoin address B and sign. UserA verifies the signed message and proves that UseB is indeed its owner. Bitcoin address B.
You can also prove your identity this way, as Bitcointalk users sometimes do to protect their accounts from theft. “Staking” bitcoin addresses in signed messages like this threadHere is an example of how signed messages can be used to recover lost accounts.
User C. Post a signed message from your Bitcoin address, verified by a trusted person, and then stored in the forum.
sometimes, User C. My Bitcointalk account was hacked and my password was changed. User C. Then contact the forum admins and sign a message from the same Bitcoin address to prove they are the rightful owners of the hacked account. The thief in control of your account does not own the private key to your Bitcoin address, so they cannot prove you are the rightful owner and cannot sign messages from there.
UserC’s account password is reset and access is restored.
Not all Bitcoin wallets are created equal
One note about Bitcoin wallets before we continue.
The best way to use Bitcoin is to be the sole custodian of your private key. Wallets that allow you to spend Bitcoin in this way are sometimes called non-custodial wallets because no one (other than yourself) stores your private keys. When using this type of wallet, you must specify the transaction parameters (for example, amount to send, address to send to, fee to pay, inputs to use, etc.), sign the transaction, and verify it yourself. broadcast to the Bitcoin network at
Note that not all Bitcoin wallets allow access to the private key associated with the wallet. Some allow it, but it’s not the only access. Typical examples are public service wallets like crypto exchanges and crypto gaming sites like Crypto.Games. When conducting transactions with these wallets, you usually only have access to your public key, which is a publicly available string called a ‘bitcoin address’. When you want to send bitcoin from these wallets, you actually tell the site to trade or send on your behalf. So they sign the transaction and send it to the Bitcoin network. You can’t sign or verify with this type of wallet because you don’t control the private key.
Here are some open source, non-custodial wallets that allow you to sign and verify messages. This is not a recommendation to use any or all of them. You should always do your own research to determine which wallet is best for you. Also, be sure to authenticate yourself before downloading and using these wallets!
very! How can I sign/verify messages with my Bitcoin wallet?
The process of signing and verifying messages is different for each wallet. Normally you should look for the “sign/verify” option from your wallet.
In this example, a standard Electrum v4.04 wallet is used.
First, it signs messages from the address “bc1qm5lut8n4zaud84a26nzqymmvnd5sp3uj2smlth”. It must be the address contained in the wallet you signed from.
- Open your wallet client and sign in (if your wallet is encrypted, enter your password. If not, why not enter your password?!).
- from address tab, right-click and select the address you want to sign the message with Signature/Message Verification. Or from the top menu bar, Tools > Sign/Verify Message manually enter the address in the address field.
- Enter your message in the box that pops up, and when done, sign button. You will then be prompted for your password (if you encrypted your wallet).
- Once completed, the string will appear in the signature field. That’s your digital signature! In this example:
- If you provide this information to someone, they can use the same tool to verify your signed message by entering all this information into their respective fields.
- message:
Crypto.Games is the best. Better than all others. - Address: bc1qm5lut8n4zaud84a26nzqymmvnd5sp3uj2smlth
- sign:
0GMnwxdhdxtra5djRTHtY0w6hbZMMD2wT+0BGFjEoH7a9sFbgPFBOMEBbQz68hejMj1Rj9oybIVEaxVD+qj+fM=
0 Comments