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bitcoin-wallets

Bitcoin (BTC, BCH, BTG, etc) and Zcash wallets made simple, javascript implementation of BIP 32 Bitcoin hierarchical deterministic keys

History

<b>Please note that this module is now deprecated, please see bitcoin-transactions since it has been merged there</b>

Rationale

Create your bitcoin addresses and wallets by your own and recover them from a phrase (but please read the warning below)/seed you know if you lose them, this eliminates the constant need of wallets backup with the associated risks and this eliminates the risk of losing all of your addresses (then your money)

Convert your original bitcoin address to a bitcoin fork address (Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, etc) or any coin address to another one

Conversion

Given the increasing number of forks that are occurring this module allows non expert users to easily match addresses from their original wallet to a bitcoin fork address (Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, etc), so you don't need to regenerate one wallet for each fork

Implementation

This module is using elliptic and bs58, the code is inspired from hdkey

Details

There are quasi no standards for bitcoin wallets, every bitcoin client proposes a specific one and generally does not let you generate your keys, the reason invoked for this is to protect the users from generating insecure keys that could be discovered and stolen by an attacker

Bitcoin core has recently implemented as the default partially BIP32 which generates first 100 addresses from a seed chosen by the software

We don't think that it's necessarily a good idea to trust a software, even open source, to choose the main seed for you knowing that all of your keys depend on it and are generated from this master seed (which is typically a 32 bytes sequence)

This implementation is mainly following the bitcoin core wallet format but lets you decide for the seed, you can reuse the information generated for other wallets, you can select from the addresses generated which ones you will use and break the tree dependencies

Can we trust BIP32?

There are good signs that we can but of course if all your addresses depend on a tree algorithm then, even if unlikely, the possibility still exists to revert it and discover the seed from your keys, then discover all of your keys. Another possibility, probably unlikely also, is to find patterns allowing to fingerprint all the keys generated so finally people can trace you.

Surprisingly from ~32 bytes keys BIP32 ends up with a 78 bytes format to describe them with all the necessary information like indexes, parent to possibly allow to revert the tree

Bitcoin core derives two addresses from a seed and then derives all the other addresses from it, this constitute one branch in the tree and the (hardened) addresses are represented by m/0/i where i is the number of the key, when 100 addresses are used it generates others following the same principle

bitcoin-wallets do the same but introduces a secret option where the reference to the tree for each key is not indicated in the wallet, neither the master seed and master key (so you should better make sure you will be able to recover it if you use this option)

Warning

For now you should not use this module (except for conversion purposes) if you are not an expert to choose a seed with enough entropy (ie 128 bits) and you should not use the possibility to derive keys from a phrase

Indeed, human phrases are known to be predictable with considerably less (ie ridiculous) entropy than a seed generated with a prng

Do not think you are stronger than the theory and will generate a human phrase with 128 bits of entropy, you won't

Other methods exist to remember more easily your seed than a 32 bytes sequence, for example BIP39 or Electrum

But choosing x words among a set of y words in a dictionary to reach the required entropy is still not something a human being will easily remember, it will have to be written somewhere, so we can question why it can be considered easier than writing a 32 bytes sequence, question of appreciation, people like it apparently

This is an ongoing TODO but one of the goals here would be to generate a seed from phrases/information that a human being can really remember, more to come...

Installation

Just create a folder, copy index.js and install via npm elliptic and bs58

Use - Generate keys

generate_keys_simple('toto'); //Never use this! The private key is the hash256 of the utf8 representation of the phrase
/*
private key: 31f7a65e315586ac198bd798b6629ce4903d0899476d5741a9f32e2e521b6a66
public key (compressed): 0235120e148979e25191400fe64f360db079b917ac367d322e44394db320b26988
bitcoin address: 12UB9cFE12ZBKZZaFWPxE1p574WxQuLVvY
private key wif: KxtqjBjoXGF76b5zGgYyRByGEo7cBLNM3Q3gKBmhv5DQRQbYvZkj
*/

Bitcoin Core (0x00 p2pkh, 0x05 p2sh) - default then version can be set to null

generate_keys_simple('',null,new Buffer('1de2e396a194570339c2289a71d98bdb11c2dc204df06f8e4841028f9179739c','hex')); //the private key is the buffer you pass
/*
private key: 1de2e396a194570339c2289a71d98bdb11c2dc204df06f8e4841028f9179739c
public key (compressed): 039e0a50d9f660d5e361ed47bb2d91f96ec360d86f8c377b4e02ed87e4217c4218
bitcoin address: 16uqY2xbpWc2h3aJMiYc2PKs17f4NyQ8GY
private key wif: KxDohMDu4iQ3GYMJGakyfCtcHtuGjqfcDLR2oUYEbNpkGJeTYmGq
*/

Bitcoin Cash (0x1c p2pkh, 0x28 p2sh)

generate_keys_simple('',new Buffer('1c','hex'),new Buffer('1de2e396a194570339c2289a71d98bdb11c2dc204df06f8e4841028f9179739c','hex')); //the private key is the buffer you pass

/*
private key: 1de2e396a194570339c2289a71d98bdb11c2dc204df06f8e4841028f9179739c
public key (compressed): 039e0a50d9f660d5e361ed47bb2d91f96ec360d86f8c377b4e02ed87e4217c4218
bitcoin cash address: CNNj75JfhZaZbBUj3TsXbtwtdEsUGaQ6qi
private key wif: KxDohMDu4iQ3GYMJGakyfCtcHtuGjqfcDLR2oUYEbNpkGJeTYmGq
*/

Bitcoin Gold (0x26 p2pkh, 0x17 p2sh)

generate_keys_simple('',new Buffer('26','hex'),new Buffer('1de2e396a194570339c2289a71d98bdb11c2dc204df06f8e4841028f9179739c','hex')); //the private key is the buffer you pass

/*
private key: 1de2e396a194570339c2289a71d98bdb11c2dc204df06f8e4841028f9179739c
public key (compressed): 039e0a50d9f660d5e361ed47bb2d91f96ec360d86f8c377b4e02ed87e4217c4218
bitcoin gold address: GPkkxAHYoNDKmWsbHfCiT9fkvHSuShfFcc
private key wif: KxDohMDu4iQ3GYMJGakyfCtcHtuGjqfcDLR2oUYEbNpkGJeTYmGq
*/

var hd=generate_keys_bip32(new Buffer('4ecf2e71d567072fe2f9cda40873afcaae4224e3f249018621a90dd43e88f8de','hex'));

hd.deriveChild(0).deriveChild(0).deriveChild(0); /m/0/0

/*
master seed chain code: f6dff350d088f62f444db026f5476e2f8ebf1df200da50e3ac2656b093b90dcd
master seed private key: 0bfe13930513cf7ad70bb34161f758417df200d6393e2301d49aa92a9cb6f777
master seed public key: 04468067c38b846a4af20520b0aae8dcd344391770d200eaf82cc8f391a44c6845a5db4e062450078091671e0d797315fec4e0227a216ddd186301f117cad895ab
master seed public key (compact): 03468067c38b846a4af20520b0aae8dcd344391770d200eaf82cc8f391a44c6845
master seed Extended private key: xprv9s21ZrQH143K4Wv2JLdfN8td2qVm8qTU7c7hD36gSfsnfNp7AjjgcaGiem5v7KvJnmpee8JeciN8dGvK5r2KZtEt8N4hgnQ3kRP6mQp2JVL
master seed Extended public key: xpub661MyMwAqRbcGzzVQNAfjGqMasLFYJBKUq3J1RWJ11QmYB9FiH3wANbCW4WCGJj1hT53TEuNSRYMRV511bhJzNDXnhtpjH3Szh6ZtFWxENS
master seed bitcoin address: 1LwHzDUFzPq6x2Fdm5aeDrM67YxaqKLnUk
------------------------------------ depth 1 index 2147483648
chain code: b1db88d41905272e036a187716a92d1c10352f2a214a2448dcef3d97ff7fe25d
private key: c9065bdee993a97d148f36ccba46644f67e4572a25a149b02d59bc73a3a1b543
public key: 04c8646a2ec82beb33177f295574e6a4d0cfcab0f64c4235b27e30b87336bac018083ff16361ceb481c52945eddfa3aa6026609254c24b49303cc42ffb9652948b
public key (compact): 03c8646a2ec82beb33177f295574e6a4d0cfcab0f64c4235b27e30b87336bac018
Extended private key: xprv9vWNbpbWyMLxiqYS5EVb4VDpeQMjqwrP5bXxHpnQFWTpy6NAKr8NpBT5EbMQ7XUpEAeUGcUei2RJceExjy1tstGnbFX46L4DrU3icyjekMA
Extended public key: xpub69Vj1L8QoiuFwKcuBG2bRdAZCSCEFQaESpTZ6DC1oqzoqthJsPSdMymZ5tKdaBt2UaaebeshY9nusFhohLYS62UZLgcXpnsQzRpYKLv2n3F
bitcoin address: 1FEbDGRWoP4eqP1NckvAU8ZFFscEdei8d7
------------------------------------ depth 2 index 2147483648
chain code: 9550fb648a08d4b0d6e6109a9f9ebe4c232b505f85af8934439d50055f01a0a9
private key: 81b70a0aca20e75f5ab28c7dff4761e25a52262d68f5091a25d69067f391b42d
public key: 044f5bf3a2b799714371f70ee4cd3472541d3d7cee28809b5ed157e0f6aea04edf18c6a034c0a7deebd79d763bc08a36d5a8e6b98169fe305acf170caab8432c57
public key (compact): 034f5bf3a2b799714371f70ee4cd3472541d3d7cee28809b5ed157e0f6aea04edf
Extended private key: xprv9wvqzVdaZo7ZLL2SkMjzceqSutNqNtfN36tQRu4HaNJemxmsEtpyqsxSTC9bGMTeQi4XaVWuRpKtBLV9kmcd1GW5nDAPn6kzhbsm3wdu3ec
Extended public key: xpub6AvCQ1AUQAfrYp6urPGzynnBTvDKnMPDQKp1EHTu8hqdem71nS9EPgGvJUjvcUJF4y7YRNgFwZ2kV43mhsZBH7rZ2V1iivJ4zuiohhVNRi1
bitcoin address: 1EdqLpZJ9wi9mBNwzQJp8T8Rs2uPBwuyup
------------------------------------ depth 3 index 2147483648
chain code: da57d72f15178feb3228e9eba32cecd2750ee0c2143b6b6fdce2e22f0e3fd47e
private key: a794e95400ccc3d5b2a42e089194e7bb596c9f93a481ae1a13641bbaec97aa04
public key: 04232efbaee1d1d006c2d4b18cf3960b74701900dedeae1c7efddd6ac308f43e02ff81a4deea68149a67ab6338d3c81a086cfb8c3d9000957d5807716259bbac94
public key (compact): 02232efbaee1d1d006c2d4b18cf3960b74701900dedeae1c7efddd6ac308f43e02
Extended private key: xprv9ymBKTjmhJHAgYqK7xReE57Cvgj2Nn9k7kf2YEYiUsb5MrMD8eCbokxnmGEM372b3GZcqsRJhpTmuZ3Z6m1N2SSqBMKaUdk8X96fW2dqeXR
Extended public key: xpub6CkXiyGfXfqTu2unDyxebD3wUiZWnEsbUyadLcxL3D84EegMgBWrMZHGcWFoYcg2vtSyZ9qXKcnZdzdvcQVSkeYEjUtYh1h4pz36h1iKmkx
bitcoin address: 1PLEySkBy6c9LbEZ7V29WiieqdVGGFgyYh
*/

Use - Generate wallets

Output is stored in wallet.txt, all details for the keys are stored in log.txt (recommended to backup somewhere)

Bitcoin Core

create_wallet(new Buffer('4ecf2e71d567072fe2f9cda40873afcaae4224e3f249018621a90dd43e88f8de','hex')); //see /tests/wallet.txt and compare with original_wallet_dump.txt

create_wallet(new Buffer('4ecf2e71d567072fe2f9cda40873afcaae4224e3f249018621a90dd43e88f8de','hex'),true); //see /tests/wallet_secret.txt

create_wallet(new Buffer('4ecf2e71d567072fe2f9cda40873afcaae4224e3f249018621a90dd43e88f8de','hex'),null or true,1000); //generates 1000 keys, default is 100

create_wallet('My super wallet');//see /tests/my_super_wallet.txt - Again, never use this for now

Bitcoin Cash

Generate the same wallet as Bitcoin Core's one above for Bitcoin Cash

create_wallet(new Buffer('4ecf2e71d567072fe2f9cda40873afcaae4224e3f249018621a90dd43e88f8de','hex'),null or true, null or number, new Buffer('1c','hex'))

Bitcoin Gold

Generate the same wallet as Bitcoin Cores's one above for Bitcoin Gold

create_wallet(new Buffer('4ecf2e71d567072fe2f9cda40873afcaae4224e3f249018621a90dd43e88f8de','hex'),null or true, null or number, new Buffer('26','hex'))

Use - Convert bitcoin addresses

Convert an address from one network to another one - convert(address,inversion,outversion)

Bitcoin Cash

convert('16uqY2xbpWc2h3aJMiYc2PKs17f4NyQ8GY',new Buffer('00','hex'),new Buffer('1c','hex'));

Address 16uqY2xbpWc2h3aJMiYc2PKs17f4NyQ8GY converted to CNNj75JfhZaZbBUj3TsXbtwtdEsUGaQ6qi

Bitcoin Gold

convert('16uqY2xbpWc2h3aJMiYc2PKs17f4NyQ8GY',new Buffer('00','hex'),new Buffer('26','hex'));

Address 16uqY2xbpWc2h3aJMiYc2PKs17f4NyQ8GY converted to GPkkxAHYoNDKmWsbHfCiT9fkvHSuShfFcc

Bitcoin Cash to Bitcoin Gold

convert('CNNj75JfhZaZbBUj3TsXbtwtdEsUGaQ6qi',new Buffer('1c','hex'),new Buffer('26','hex'));

Address CNNj75JfhZaZbBUj3TsXbtwtdEsUGaQ6qi converted to GPkkxAHYoNDKmWsbHfCiT9fkvHSuShfFcc

Wallets import/export

In bitcoin core, open the debug console (Help/Debug console)

To dump your current wallet use dumpwallet wallet.txt

Note: hdmaster, renamed hdseed here, is your master seed, see the Tools below if you want to get its hex representation

To import your bitcoin-wallets, put your wallet.txt in the bitcoin core root directory and use importwallet wallet.txt

Again you can choose among the keys generated by bitcoin-wallets those that you want to put in your final wallet.txt (that's why you should better keep log.txt if you want later to reconciliate the keys chosen with the tree)

Currently importing keys as described above does not remove previous keys, request made to the bitcoin core team which is apparently implementing too a way to create keys from a user chosen private key/seed - watch Wallet - add option for a custom extended master privat key (xpriv)

Other formats

The default bitcoin client version is bitcoin core (then compressed format is used for public keys and address derivation, 01 is added to private keys representation), please feel free to post bug/PR and/or contact us for other versions