Post
Topic
Board Development & Technical Discussion
Re: Matching public key with directory.io - why so difficult?
by
achow101
on 17/09/2017, 03:16:08 UTC
Not if I'm doing the public-private key generation locally on an air-gapped, unconnected computer - one of the reasons for my posts above. I would like to get hold of that code for personal use, but the creator has hidden it, unlike other websites that randomly generate public-private key pairs. I actually think that I could create the code if I really put my mind to it, something I might consider if I can't get that code.
I don't understand why you are so fixated on choosing your own private key that is memorable. Why not instead generate random private keys until you generate something that you find memorable. That is far more secure than you choosing something memorable.

Not if I'm keeping it purely for storage and not transacting with it.



How would a thief steal it if it's committed to memory and the public key has only ever been used once - to deposit the money? You're assuming I'm using it for transacting. That wallet is cold and the private key has never touched the Internet.



Not if I simply put the bitcoin there for long term storage.
It can be stolen the moment you decide to spend the coins and have to enter you private key into some software. Even if you are keeping the coins in long term storage, at some point in the future you will want to move those coins out of storage to do something with them. Whenever you do that, you expose your private key and it can be stolen.

Similarly, the same argument can be made for randomly generating a private key and keeping it on a storage medium that never touches the internet.

There is also still a significant privacy loss even if you are only using that address for receiving. For starters, everyone that sends you money will know how much money you have. Furthermore you are reducing the privacy of everyone that transacts with you because anyone will be able to look at their transactions and immediately know who they were paying and how much.