A Private Key is a large (256-bit) secret number that allows Bitcoin to be unlocked and sent. This is the only real way to prove that you are the owner. A Private Key only serves the purpose of proving that you are the owner of a particular cryptocurrency address. When you have control of a private key, you have the power to make a transaction and spend the assets linked to that address. The private key is something you should never share with a person or entity In Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies, the Private Key is a 256-bit number. However, this is not the format in which it is displayed. A 256-bit number is represented as a hexadecimal. Hexadecimal is a notation that uses only the numeric letters 0—9 and A—F. This makes the data, expressed in hexadecimal, easier to read.
Example;
E9873D79C6D87DC0FB6A5778633389F4453213303DA61F20BD67FC233AA33262
What is a Private Key Used For?
Private Key is used to perform irreversible transactions. It is the key to spending your Bitcoins to anyone and at any café, restaurant, or sending
Bitcoins
. These transactions are encrypted and as if they were signed. And for each transaction, these signatures are unique, even if they are generated from the same Private Keys. This feature makes it impossible for them to be copied. The Private Key holder can safely use the same Private Key over and over again.
How to Generate a Private Key?
In Bitcoin, a private key is a random number between 1 and 2²⁵⁶. To generate our private key, we need a way to generate a random number. To do this, we need to use a cryptographically secure number generator. A number generator is cryptographically secure when the number generated cannot be determined or it is not known how it was chosen. Using identifier number generators puts your private key at risk of being known.
1.Generate random data set
For the Bitcoin Private Key, we need a cryptographically secure number generator. To meet this requirement, we need to generate a random data set, we will then convert this data into a number.
Example;
AofidowXhk&))@:@9727929Hcks&&&(nkhgiowiwj919283’@bnwkiHhVjKihUNnkllswiwi9@/93938’bbndkk!( İkjqlwlw188020$n€icrypexHbnk
2. Convert Random Data to 256-bit Number
Now that we have a random dataset, we can use SHA256 to convert our random dataset to 256 Bits. SHA256 handles any length input, our random data, and serves to generate a 256-bit digest or hash.
The SHA256 hash of our random data is; 3133293B7827ED422EA95FF7E6B92145FAA6A22DE1896043F457306AF4CF5B42
Our hash in SHA256 is represented in hexadecimal and contains 64 characters. Each character in the hash represents 4 bits.
3. Verification
Now that we have generated a cryptographically secure 256-Bit random number, the last thing we need to do is verify whether our number is between 1 and 2²⁵⁶. Our number is much smaller than the Bitcoin limit, which is 2²⁵⁶, although it is very large. This means that our number is convenient and can now be used as a private key in Bitcoin.
4. Specify the Private Key
In Bitcoin, each Private Key on the main network starts with a “5”. This makes it easier to identify the Private Key. We need to add 5 to the beginning of our hexadecimal to make our private key start with “80”.
803133293B7827ED422EA95FF7E6B92145FAA6A22DE1896043F457306AF4CF5B42
5. Prevent Typos and Convert Hexadecimal to Base58
To avoid typos even more, we need to convert Private Key from hexadecimal to Base58. Base58 removes the easily misunderstood alphanumeric characters O, O, L, and I. The result is 58 characters that can be used to represent our private key.
Here is our converted Base58 private key, which contains the required “5” for every private key in Bitcoin.
5JBxKqYKzzoHrzeqwp6zXk8wZU3Ah94ChWAinSj1fYmyJvJS5rT (You may be exposed to attacks if you use this number privately)
There are sites that generate random numbers for you. One of them is random.org, a general-purpose random number generator that is more commonly used. The other is bitaddress.org created specifically for the production of Bitcoin Private Keys.
Random.org helps us generate a key. This site is useful because they can generate random bytes. But here several problems may occur. Random.org claims to be a reliable manufacturer, but can you trust the site? Are you really sure it’s randomly generated and reliable? Can we be sure that the site owner does not record the results of all generated, especially Private Keys? The answer is up to you. The goal here is to enable you to generate a fully trusted Private Key. When you answer these questions, you will have found the most reliable source.
Bitaddress.org works in a completely different way. It’s open source, so you can see what’s going on behind the scenes. It is on the client side, you can download it and run it even if there is no internet connection. So how does it work? You have to move your mouse or press random keys.
As you can see, there are many ways to generate private keys. They differ in simplicity and security.
