If I generate a sha256 digest from some text I get one string of letters and numbers, but if I generate a key pair using bitaddress, using the same text I get a private key.
What is the relationship between the digest and the private key? -snip-
You must be talking about "
brainwallet" tab of bitaddress, yes?
You can get a 256bit result from SHA256 that can be used as an ECDSA Private Key [
letters (A-F) and numbers (0-9)];
The difference is, brainwallet encodes the private key into WIF (
Wallet Import Format) which what you might have meant by "
private key".