In my old setup in Electrum I had noted down the 64 digit private key.
Now that the safest way to store BTC is hardware wallet, I just realized it won't have the 64 digit private key but rather 12 words – which then lead to various addresses (including other coins).
So, a quick lookup showed that this is an additional program (algorithm?) that creates a hash out of multiple addresses and private keys that can be accessed via the 12 words. (Hop I got this right.)
Of course I prefer and would be at ease with 12 words rather than noting down 64 alphanumeric values – but how safe is this 12 word technology that is then unlocking multiple addresses and keys? I have some general questions about this – for example, who runs this 12 word generating program? Surely not the Bitcoin team. Does it have some vulnerabilities?
The relationship between the private key and the 12 words?
byu/fap_fap_fap_fapper inBitcoinBeginners
Posted by fap_fap_fap_fapper
1 Comment
>In my old setup in Electrum I had noted down the 64 digit private key.
This is usually a really bad idea for many reasons . Private keys are only associated with a single public key and address
What this is a legacy paper wallet you created that you should not use
**Concerns with old style paper wallets** –
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Paper_wallet
https://np.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/670zhy/summary_pitfalls_of_paper_wallets/
https://np.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/6ss91w/seriously_how_are_you_all_generating_your_private/dlf4uhr/
>The relationship between the private key and the 12 words?
Most wallets use hierarchical deterministic (HD) key derivation after bip32.
This means you have
**Backup Seed words (BIP 39 or other)** consisting of 12-24 words that can than recover
**Master extended private key (xpriv,ypriv,zpriv)** Which can generate many private keys
**Master extended public key(xpub/ypub/zpub)** Which can generate many public keys
As of which from the public keys many Bitcoin addresses can be derived from.
**every single address has its own private key and you are supposed to use a unique address for every transaction for both privacy and security reasons**
>safe is this 12 word technology that is then unlocking multiple addresses and keys?
extremely safe , even 7 words is uncrackable by all the computers in the world , let alone 12 . Every extra word increases the difficulty exponentially
>who runs this 12 word generating program?
Your wallet generates it by creating a very long random number than turning that into 12 to 24 words with part of the last word acting as a checksum to insure no typos exist or your words are not out of order
With good open source wallets no one will know these words but you.
>Does it have some vulnerabilities?
No