WIF Private Key

An easy to share format of a private key.

A private key can be converted in to a “Wallet Import Format”, which basically makes it easier to copy and move around (because it’s shorter and contains a checksum for detecting errors).

Try it!

You should never enter your private key in to a website, or use a private key generated by a website. Websites can save these private keys and use them to steal any bitcoins you send to its address.

How to create a WIF private key.

A WIF private key is a standard private key, but with a few added extras:

Version Byte prefix - Indicates which network the private key is to be used on.
- 0x80 = Mainnet
- 0xEF = Testnet
Compression Byte suffix (optional) - Indicates if the private key is used to create a compressed public key.
- 0x01
Checksum - Useful for detecting errors/typos when you type out your private key.

This is all then converted to Base58, which shortens the entire thing and makes it easier to transcribe…

A WIF private key is just another way of representing your original private key. If you have a WIF private key, you can always convert it back in to its original format.

Code

Note: This code requires the checksum.rb and base58_encode.rb functions.

# Convert Private Key to WIF
privatekey = "ef235aacf90d9f4aadd8c92e4b2562e1d9eb97f0df9ba3b508258739cb013db2"
extended = "80" + privatekey + "01"
extendedchecksum = extended + checksum(extended)
wif = base58_encode(extendedchecksum)

puts wif