WIF Private Key | Wallet Import Format (2024)

# ---------# Functions# ---------require 'digest'# hash256 function (checksums use hash256)def hash256(hex) binary = [hex].pack("H*") hash1 = Digest::SHA256.digest(binary) hash2 = Digest::SHA256.digest(hash1) result = hash2.unpack("H*")[0] return resultend# checksum functiondef checksum(hex) hash = hash256(hex) # Hash the data through SHA256 twice return hash[0...8] # Return the first 4 bytes (8 characters)end# base58 encode functiondef base58_encode(hex) chars = %w[ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F G H J K L M N P Q R S T U V W X Y Z a b c d e f g h i j k m n o p q r s t u v w x y z] base = chars.length i = hex.to_i(16) buffer = String.new while i > 0 remainder = i % base i = i / base buffer = chars[remainder] + buffer end # add '1's to the start based on number of leading bytes of zeros leading_zero_bytes = (hex.match(/^([0]+)/) ? $1 : '').size / 2 ("1"*leading_zero_bytes) + bufferend# ----------# WIF Encode# ----------# 1. start with a 32-byte hexadecimal private keyprivatekey = "ef235aacf90d9f4aadd8c92e4b2562e1d9eb97f0df9ba3b508258739cb013db2" # example, do not use# 2. add prefix (80 = mainet, ef = testnet)data = "80" + privatekey# 3. add compression byte (optional)data = data + "01"# 4. add checksumdata = data + checksum(data)# 5. base58 encodewif = base58_encode(data)# resultputs wif #=> L5EZftvrYaSudiozVRzTqLcHLNDoVn7H5HSfM9BAN6tMJX8oTWz6

import hashlib # SHA-256 hash function# 1. start with a 32-byte hexadecimal private keyprivatekey = "ef235aacf90d9f4aadd8c92e4b2562e1d9eb97f0df9ba3b508258739cb013db2" # example, do not use# 2. add prefix (80 = mainet, ef = testnet)data = "80" + privatekey# 3. add compression byte (optional)data = data + "01"# 4. add checksum (hash256 the prefix+data+checksum, then take the first 4 bytes)hash1 = hashlib.sha256(bytes.fromhex(data)).digest() # convert hex string to raw bytes before hashinghash2 = hashlib.sha256(hash1).hexdigest() # return result as hex stringchecksum = hash2[0:8] # checksum is the first 4 bytesdata = data + checksum # add checksum to the end of the data# 5. set base58 characterscharacters = ['1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', 'H', 'J', 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'P', 'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'U', 'V', 'W', 'X', 'Y', 'Z', 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j', 'k', 'm', 'n', 'o', 'p', 'q', 'r', 's', 't', 'u', 'v', 'w', 'x', 'y', 'z']# 6. convert hex data to integer so we can convert it to base58i = int(data, 16)# 7. create a buffer for holding the base58 stringbase58 = ''# 8. keep dividing the integer by 58 and taking the remainder to work out each base58 characterwhile i > 0: i, remainder = divmod(i, 58) # divide and get the remainder base58 = characters[remainder] + base58 # use the remainder to get the character, and add it to the start of the string# note: during normal base58 encoding you convert leading 00 bytes in hex to 1s in base58, but leading zero bytes will not be present when creating a wif private key so we're skipping that step here# 9. show result (wif private key)print(base58) #=> L5EZftvrYaSudiozVRzTqLcHLNDoVn7H5HSfM9BAN6tMJX8oTWz6

# ---------# Functions# ---------# base58 decode functiondef base58_decode(base58_string) # base58 characters base58_chars = "123456789ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijkmnopqrstuvwxyz" # set starting integer value integer = 0 # run through each character in the string from right to left base58_string.reverse.each_char.with_index do |char, index| # get the position of the character in the list of base58 characters char_index = base58_chars.index(char) # check its a valid base58 character if !char_index puts "Not a valid Base58 character: #{char}" exit end # multiply the position of the character by a power of 58 (increasing for the index of each character) integer += char_index * (58**index) end # convert the integer to a hexadecimal string hexadecimal = integer.to_s(16) # pad out to make sure it's an even number of bytes if hexadecimal.bytesize.odd? hexdecimal = "0" + hexadecimal end # ignore empty base58 strings if hexadecimal == "00" hexadecimal = "" end # count the number of leading 1's leading_zero_bytes = (base58_string.match(/^([1]+)/) ? $1 : '').size # convert leading 1's to leading 00's if leading_zero_bytes > 0 hexadecimal = ("00" * leading_zero_bytes) + hexadecimal end # return hexadecimal bytes return hexadecimalend# ----------# WIF Decode# ----------# 1. start with a wif private keywif = "L5EZftvrYaSudiozVRzTqLcHLNDoVn7H5HSfM9BAN6tMJX8oTWz6" # example, do not use# 2. base58 decodedata = base58_decode(wif)# 3. extract the private key (bytes 1 to 33)privatekey = data[2...66]# resultputs privatekey #=> ef235aacf90d9f4aadd8c92e4b2562e1d9eb97f0df9ba3b508258739cb013db2

# 1. start with a wif private keywif = "L5EZftvrYaSudiozVRzTqLcHLNDoVn7H5HSfM9BAN6tMJX8oTWz6" # example, do not use# 2. set base58 characterscharacters = ['1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', 'H', 'J', 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'P', 'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'U', 'V', 'W', 'X', 'Y', 'Z', 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h', 'i', 'j', 'k', 'm', 'n', 'o', 'p', 'q', 'r', 's', 't', 'u', 'v', 'w', 'x', 'y', 'z']# 3. convert base58 string to integer# 3a. reverse the base58 string so we can work from right to leftwif = wif[::-1]# 3b. set starting valuesum = 0# 3c. run through each character in the wif private key (the base58 string)for i, c in enumerate(wif): # 3d. get the index number of this character from the list of base58 characters for index, base58_character in enumerate(characters): # this is a basic way to find the key from the list, but it works if (c == base58_character): character_index = index break # stop looking # 3e. multiply the index of the character by a power of 58 (increasing the power based on the position of the character in the base58 string), then add this to the sum sum += character_index * (58**i)# 4. convert integer to a hexadecimalhexadecimal = hex(sum)[2:] # remove the 0x prefix using [2:]# note: during normal base58 decoding you convert leading 1s in base58 to leading 00 bytes in hex, but wif private keys never start with a 1 so we're skipping that step here# 5. extract the private key (ignore the prefix, compression byte, and checksum)privatekey = hexadecimal[2:66]# 6. pad out the private key so it always shows as 32 bytes (64 hexadecimal characters)privatekey = privatekey.zfill(64) # zfill pads with zeros at the start to the desired length# 6. show resultprint(privatekey) #=> ef235aacf90d9f4aadd8c92e4b2562e1d9eb97f0df9ba3b508258739cb013db2