I am insteresting with method. First bitcoin client did this automatically off course.

I am trying to understand how algorithm works.

If this report for me. I am just using ai for translate.

 Thank you for the response. I have been researching the forum and old discussions, but what I am specifically looking for is a method that might have been used by early users to generate private keys using a combination of a string, passphrase, and salt.

 For example, was there any known practice of using OpenSSL commands like HMAC, PBKDF2, or direct hashing methods (e.g., SHA-256, SHA-512) to derive a private key deterministically?

 I am particularly interested in whether any early Bitcoin users might have used a repeatable process, similar to how deterministic wallets work today, but manually, without HD wallets.

 If anyone has insights, examples, or can point me to discussions covering this topic, I would appreciate it.

Title:




Hello Bitcointalk members,

I am conducting research on the methods used to generate private keys in Bitcoin’s early days. How did Satoshi Nakamoto and early miners generate Bitcoin-compatible private keys? I would like to initiate a technical discussion on using OpenSSL and other cryptographic tools for both deterministic and random private key generation.

As you know, Bitcoin private keys are 256-bit random numbers derived using the secp256k1 curve. However, there are some discussions and speculations regarding how OpenSSL was used in the early days of Bitcoin.

We could discuss the following questions:

1. Was it possible to generate private keys using OpenSSL in Bitcoin’s early days?


2. Which algorithms and methods were preferred in the OpenSSL versions used at the time?


3. Which hash functions or HMAC techniques might have been used for deterministic Bitcoin private key generation?


4. What sources of entropy might Satoshi or early miners have used?


5. Are there any previous discussions on Bitcointalk regarding deterministic private key generation in Bitcoin’s early days?



Example: Generating a Private Key Using OpenSSL

Today, we can generate a Bitcoin-compatible private key using OpenSSL with the following commands:

openssl ecparam -genkey -name secp256k1 -noout -out private-key.pem
openssl ec -in private-key.pem -text -noout

This command creates an ECDSA private key based on the secp256k1 curve. However, additional methods may be required for deterministic private key generation. For instance:

Is it possible to generate the same key every time using a message or a specific hash value?

Could deterministic private key derivation in Bitcoin’s early days have involved HMAC, PBKDF2, or SHA-256 techniques?

What role did older versions of OpenSSL play in this process?


I have conducted research on Bitcointalk and other forums but have not yet found a conclusive answer. If you have old discussions, documents, or sources on this topic, could you share them?

I am eager to learn more about private key generation in Bitcoin’s early days. Do you think Satoshi or early miners used a specific method, or did each individual develop their own approach?

Let’s explore this through historical documentation and technical discussions. Please share any interesting findings you may have.

Thank you!

Can you provide the code with pm?

I guess in your specific code, if a weak or repeated nonce  is used, an attacker can compute it from  values and recover the private key. This is a well-known vulnerability in ECDSA when nonces are not generated securely.

However, Bitcoin does not use a random nonce for signing transactions. Instead, it employs RFC 6979, which ensures that the nonce is deterministically derived from the private key and the message hash. This prevents reuse and eliminates the risk of private key leakage due to nonce repetition or poor randomness.

If someone claims to have derived the private key from , they likely exploited a flawed nonce generation process. To verify this, one would need multiple signatures using the same nonce or a predictable nonce pattern. In Bitcoin, this should never happen under normal circumstances.


Can you share your code, so i want to check.