Implementing Keys and Addresses in Python
The most comprehensive bitcoin library in Python is “pybitcointools”by Vitalik Buterin (https://github.com/vbuterin/pybitcointools). In the following code example, we use the pybitcointools library (imported as “bitcoin”) to generate and display keys and addresses in various formats:
Example – Key and Address generation and formatting with the pybitcointools library
import bitcoin
# Generate a random private key
valid_private_key = False
while not valid_private_key:
private_key = bitcoin.random_key()
decoded_private_key = bitcoin.decode_privkey(private_key, 'hex')
valid_private_key = 0 < decoded_private_key < bitcoin.N
print "Private Key (hex) is: ", private_key
print "Private Key (decimal) is: ", decoded_private_key
# Convert private key to WIF format
wif_encoded_private_key = bitcoin.encode_privkey(decoded_private_key, 'wif')
print "Private Key (WIF) is: ", wif_encoded_private_key
# Add suffix "01" to indicate a compressed private key
compressed_private_key = private_key + '01'
print "Private Key Compressed (hex) is: ", compressed_private_key
# Generate a WIF format from the compressed private key (WIF-compressed)
wif_compressed_private_key = bitcoin.encode_privkey(
bitcoin.decode_privkey(compressed_private_key, 'hex'), 'wif')
print "Private Key (WIF-Compressed) is: ", wif_compressed_private_key
# Multiply the EC generator point G with the private key to get a public key point
public_key = bitcoin.base10_multiply(bitcoin.G, decoded_private_key)
print "Public Key (x,y) coordinates is:", public_key
# Encode as hex, prefix 04
hex_encoded_public_key = bitcoin.encode_pubkey(public_key,'hex')
print "Public Key (hex) is:", hex_encoded_public_key
# Compress public key, adjust prefix depending on whether y is even or odd
(public_key_x, public_key_y) = public_key
if (public_key_y % 2) == 0:
compressed_prefix = '02'
else:
compressed_prefix = '03'
hex_compressed_public_key = compressed_prefix + bitcoin.encode(public_key_x, 16)
print "Compressed Public Key (hex) is:", hex_compressed_public_key
# Generate bitcoin address from public key
print "Bitcoin Address (b58check) is:", bitcoin.pubkey_to_address(public_key)
# Generate compressed bitcoin address from compressed public key
print "Compressed Bitcoin Address (b58check) is:", \
bitcoin.pubkey_to_address(hex_compressed_public_key)Here’s the output from running this code:
Example – Running key-to-address-ecc-example.py
$ python key-to-address-ecc-example.py
Private Key (hex) is:
3aba4162c7251c891207b747840551a71939b0de081f85c4e44cf7c13e41daa6
Private Key (decimal) is:
26563230048437957592232553826663696440606756685920117476832299673293013768870
Private Key (WIF) is:
5JG9hT3beGTJuUAmCQEmNaxAuMacCTfXuw1R3FCXig23RQHMr4K
Private Key Compressed (hex) is:
3aba4162c7251c891207b747840551a71939b0de081f85c4e44cf7c13e41daa601
Private Key (WIF-Compressed) is:
KyBsPXxTuVD82av65KZkrGrWi5qLMah5SdNq6uftawDbgKa2wv6S
Public Key (x,y) coordinates is:
(41637322786646325214887832269588396900663353932545912953362782457239403430124L,
16388935128781238405526710466724741593761085120864331449066658622400339362166L)
Public Key (hex) is:
045c0de3b9c8ab18dd04e3511243ec2952002dbfadc864b9628910169d9b9b00ec
243bcefdd4347074d44bd7356d6a53c495737dd96295e2a9374bf5f02ebfc176
Compressed Public Key (hex) is:
025c0de3b9c8ab18dd04e3511243ec2952002dbfadc864b9628910169d9b9b00ec
Bitcoin Address (b58check) is:
1thMirt546nngXqyPEz532S8fLwbozud8
Compressed Bitcoin Address (b58check) is:
14cxpo3MBCYYWCgF74SWTdcmxipnGUsPw3Here’s another example, using the Python ECDSA library for the Elliptic Curve math and without using any specialized bitcoin libraries:
Example – A script demonstrating Elliptic Curve math used for bitcoin keys
import ecdsa
import random
from ecdsa.util import string_to_number, number_to_string
# secp256k1, http://www.oid-info.com/get/1.3.132.0.10
_p = 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFEFFFFFC2FL
_r = 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFEBAAEDCE6AF48A03BBFD25E8CD0364141L
_b = 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000007L
_a = 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000L
_Gx = 0x79BE667EF9DCBBAC55A06295CE870B07029BFCDB2DCE28D959F2815B16F81798L
_Gy = 0x483ada7726a3c4655da4fbfc0e1108a8fd17b448a68554199c47d08ffb10d4b8L
curve_secp256k1 = ecdsa.ellipticcurve.CurveFp(_p, _a, _b)
generator_secp256k1 = ecdsa.ellipticcurve.Point(curve_secp256k1, _Gx, _Gy, _r)
oid_secp256k1 = (1, 3, 132, 0, 10)
SECP256k1 = ecdsa.curves.Curve("SECP256k1", curve_secp256k1, generator_secp256k1, oid_secp256k1)
ec_order = _r
curve = curve_secp256k1
generator = generator_secp256k1
def random_secret():
random_char = lambda: chr(random.randint(0, 255))
convert_to_int = lambda array: int("".join(array).encode("hex"), 16)
byte_array = [random_char() for i in range(32)]
return convert_to_int(byte_array)
def get_point_pubkey(point):
if point.y() & 1:
key = '03' + '%064x' % point.x()
else:
key = '02' + '%064x' % point.x()
return key.decode('hex')
def get_point_pubkey_uncompressed(point):
key = '04' + \
'%064x' % point.x() + \
'%064x' % point.y()
return key.decode('hex')
# Generate a new private key.
secret = random_secret()
print "Secret: ", secret
# Get the public key point.
point = secret * generator
print "EC point:", point
print "BTC public key:", get_point_pubkey(point).encode("hex")
# Given the point (x, y) we can create the object using:
point1 = ecdsa.ellipticcurve.Point(curve, point.x(), point.y(), ec_order)
assert point1 == point
Running the script:
Example 4-6. Installing the Python ECDSA library and running the ec_math.py script
$ # Install Python PIP package manager
$ sudo apt-get install python-pip
$ # Install the Python ECDSA library
$ sudo pip install ecdsa
$ # Run the script
$ python ec-math.py
Secret: 38090835015954358862481132628887443905906204995912378278060168703580660294000
EC point: (70048853531867179489857750497606966272382583471322935454624595540007269312627,\
105262206478686743191060800263479589329920209527285803935736021686045542353380)
BTC public key: 029ade3effb0a67d5c8609850d797366af428f4a0d5194cb221d807770a1522873This article has been published from the source link without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
