However What do we need to be able to use this function? Well, the truth is that any Bitcoin wallet with crypto games the function “Sign and Verify Messages” allows you to use this function. Among the wallets with this capacity we can mention:
Bitcoin Core, the official Bitcoin software allows you to make use of this function perfectly. Electrum Wallet, is another famous wallet that allows you to use this function without major complications. Trezor WalletThis hardware wallet it also has the function of signing and verifying messages in its interface. Online tools Bitcoin Signature Tool, it allows you perfectly to do that of this function. Open source code libraries, such as bitcoinjs, to create your own programs and ideas.
Signing and Verifying Information Using Bitcoin Core
To know how to handle this function we have chosen to use as an example Bitcoin Core, the official Bitcoin software. The reason for this is that this is the most complete and secure Bitcoin wallet that exists at the moment, and using this option with this wallet is quite simple.
The first thing you should do is download and install the Bitcoin Core wallet on your computer. To do this, we recommend you go to the official website and download the version of Bitcoin Core for your operating system. Once the installation is complete, then we can start using the Verify and Sign messages options.
Sign a message using Bitcoin Core
To sign a message using Bitcoin Core, the first thing you will have to do is run the main program, which will leave you with an interface like this.
Bitcoin Core main screen
At that point, before starting, the first thing you should do is make a slight configuration of the wallet. This is necessary because at the moment the message signature is only supported using the legacy address (those addresses that start with “1”), waiting for the activation of the BIP-322 to enable message signing using all addresses supported by Bitcoin.
In this sense, the first thing you should do is go to the menu “Configuration” and click on “Options”.
Bitcoin Core Settings Screen
Once there, you must click on “Open Configuration file” and, once the file is open, you must include the following line:
Save the configuration and restart the program for the changes to take effect. What this change does is order Bitcoin Core to use legacy addresses by default to generate our addresses, so we can use the message signature using Bitcoin Core without problems.
Now, after making these changes and restarting Bitcoin Core, the next thing will be to generate a new address to be our message signature base. This address is the one that will allow you to use the function of signing a message. To generate this address, you must go to the option “To receive” and click on the button “Create new address for reception”.
Be very careful about modifying values in the Bitcoin Core configuration file. In this case, our recommendation is valid and recognized by the Bitcoin community and developers, but there may be cases where malicious people can instruct you to gain access to your wallet without realizing it. Always be careful, research what you do before doing it.
Now, to sign a message, the first thing you should do is go to the menu “Archive” and select “Sign message”, thus the following new window will be displayed before you.At this point, you must take the address already generated and place it in the field where the address is requested. Once this is done, you must write the message to sign, in our case the message is:
This is a proof of message signature using a Bitcoin address, for Bit2Me Academy. Once these two points are made, you should have something like this:
Message to be signed in Bitcoin Core
To finish the signing process, you just have to click the button “Sign message”, the result is displayed as follows. As you can see, the process is quite simple, and it does not hide any greater difficulty than doing the few steps correctly.
Verify a message using Bitcoin Core
To verify a message using Bitcoin Core, the process is quite similar. First, you must go to the menu “Archive” and select “Verify message”, with which the following window will appear.
The second step is, take the original message and copy it in the following area:This is a proof of message signature using a Bitcoin address, for Bit2Me Academy.And finally we place the encoded and signed message that is attributed that address, which in our case is:
Verifying message in Bitcoin Core
To finish, we just have to press the button “Verify message” and so we can verify the authenticity of the message and that it has certainly been issued by whoever controls that address.
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