A private key in the context of Bitcoin is a secret number that allows you to spend the bitcoins. Each Bitcoin address has a private key associated with it, stored in the purse file of the person with the balance. The private key is mathematically related to the Bitcoin address, in such a way that the Bitcoin address is derived from the private key following some fixed rules, while the reverse operation, deducting a private key from the Bitcoin address, is impossible.
Since private keys are the key that allows you to spend bitcoins, it is essential to keep them secure. Private keys can be saved in computer files, but when dealing with simple numbers they can also be printed on paper. An example of a tool that allows you to extract private keys from a wallet file is pywallet.
To create a transaction with a private key, it must be available for the program or service that makes Bitcoin payments by accessing the private keys. Some wallet applications allow you to import private keys without generating transactions, while other applications and services transfer the balance of the imported key to another address. When a private key is cleaned in this way, a transaction is communicated to the network in which all the balance that was associated with the imported private key is sent to another address controlled by the application or service.
How many private keys can be generated in total to check one by one if they have bitcoins?
It is a very naive question, but the answer is that according to allprivatekeys.com There is a whole range of Bitcoin private keys iterated from the beginning to the end. Now how it works: Private key is a simple integer between 1 and
1,157,920,892,373,161,954,235,709,850,086,879,078,528,375,642,790,749,043,826,051,631,415,181,614
approximately 1077 in decimal, the number is unpronounceable but if you want to have fun trying to pronounce it I leave you the scale of huge numbers and their names.
| Name | Short scale (US, English Canadian, Australian, and modern British) |
Long scale (continental Europe, older British, and French Canadian) |
Authorities | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AHD4[1] | CED[2] | COD[3] | OED2[4] | OEDnew[5] | RHD2[6] | SOED3[7] | W3[8] | UM[9] | |||
| Million | 106 | 106 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Milliard | 109 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Billion | 109 | 1012 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Billiard | 1015 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Trillion | 1012 | 1018 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Quadrillion | 1015 | 1024 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Quintillion | 1018 | 1030 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Sextillion | 1021 | 1036 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Septillion | 1024 | 1042 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Octillion | 1027 | 1048 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Nonillion | 1030 | 1054 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Decillion | 1033 | 1060 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Undecillion | 1036 | 1066 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Duodecillion | 1039 | 1072 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Tredecillion | 1042 | 1078 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Quattuordecillion | 1045 | 1084 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
| Quindecillion | 1048 | 1090 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Sexdecillion | 1051 | 1096 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Septendecillion | 1054 | 10102 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Octodecillion | 1057 | 10108 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Novemdecillion | 1060 | 10114 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Vigintillion | 1063 | 10120 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Centillion | 10303 | 10600 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
Chart: wikipedia.com
A curious fact to understand how big the database of private keys is, The visible universe is estimated to contain 1080 atoms. There can be private keys as atoms that make up the entire visible universe.
1 Comment
tory · March 7, 2018 at 12:29 pm
With the help of http://www.thehackhub.co/ i was able to recover my bitcoin from a scam broker , Happy to share my experience and to also enlighten people.