What is a BSV Address and a WIF?

What is a BSV Address and a WIF?

What is a BSV Address?

A BSV address is simply a human-readable identifier that represents where satoshis can be sent.

Technically, it is built as follows:

  1. Start with the public key from an ECDSA key pair.

  2. Take the compressed x-coordinate of that public key.

  3. Apply SHA-256, then RIPEMD-160 → this gives the Public-Key-Hash.

  4. Add a version byte.

  5. Encode using Base58Check to make it shorter, readable, and error-checked.

👉 In Pay-to-Public-Key-Hash (P2PKH) transactions, the BSV address is the message digest (the “Public-Key-Hash”) to which satoshis are locked.


What is a WIF?

A WIF (Wallet Import Format) key is a way to encode private keys for easy transfer between wallets.

  • Like addresses, WIFs also use Base58Check encoding.

  • Instead of a public key hash, a WIF encodes the private key’s serialised value (d).

  • Unlike addresses, WIFs do not use HASH-160.

👉 Key takeaway:

  • Addresses = Public side (where funds are received).

  • WIFs = Private side (used to import/export keys securely).


Example: Generating a Key Pair in GoLang

Using the libsv libraries, you can generate a Bitcoin ECDSA public-private key pair:

Summary:

  • A BSV address = HASH-160 of the public key, formatted with Base58Check, used in transactions.

  • A WIF = Base58Check encoding of the private key, making wallets portable and user-friendly.

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