Brendan Lee: How to Prove Ownership of a Bitcoin Address
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Do you know how public and private keys are generated? Want to be able to verify a digital signature? If your answer to any of these questions is no, there is no need to feel embarrassed, as you are not alone! For all the articles and opinion pieces on the internet about Bitcoin, there is still a distinct lack of understanding around how the technology actually works.
In fact, a 2021 YouGov survey found that 98% of respondents did not understand basic crypto concepts.
On this week’s CoinGeek talks, Charles Miller enlisted the help of Brendan Lee, Head of Training and Development at the BSV Blockchain Association, to help him get to the bottom of a few key concepts.
When the two last spoke back in February 2021, Brendan covered what actually happens when a transaction is made on the Bitcoin network and how exactly coins move from one wallet to another. This time, Charles wants to find out what a digital signature is and how it can be used to verify ownership of a Bitcoin address.
First, they discuss public and private keys, with Brendan explaining that the two keys exist as a pair, with the private key generated first and the public key produced cryptographically from the private key.
The conversation then moves on to Bitcoin wallets, where a person’s private keys are stored. Brendan says that Electrum, a wallet software that has some additional features, is a good way to allow users to demonstrate ownership of keys by using those keys to sign messages and create digital signatures.
Brendan explains that a user must first select an address and enter a custom message to generate a signature. Once this signature is created, any other user can decode and verify the signed message provided they have the custom message, signature, and public key.
While the technology may seem complicated, Brendan says the math used to generate signatures and verify keys was nothing new when Satoshi used them in Bitcoin software.
“He didn’t do anything significantly new; he just took something that already existed, was well proven, very proven, highly trusted as a technique and then used it as a digital cash system, he says.
Charles and Brendan also do a hands-on demonstration on Electrum, showing how it can be used to prove control over a specific set of private keys. This is particularly interesting given the fact that this is how Dr. Craig Wright demonstrated his control of the Satoshi keys to Gavin Andresen in 2016.
For more on Bitcoin technology, see this previous CoinGeek conversation: Brendan Lee: What actually happens when you make a Bitcoin payment
Listen to Brendan Lee’s full interview on this week’s CoinGeek Conversations podcast or catch up on other recent episodes:
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New to Bitcoin? Check out CoinGeeks Bitcoin for beginners section, the ultimate resource guide for learning more about Bitcoin – originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamoto – and blockchain.
