Your Bitcoin Private Key is a unique secret number that only you know. It can be encoded in a number of different formats. Below we show the Bitcoin Address and Public Key that corresponds to your Private Key as well as your Private Key in the most popular encoding formats (WIF, WIFC, HEX, B64).
Bitcoin v0.6+ stores public keys in compressed format. The client now also supports import and export of private keys with importprivkey/dumpprivkey. The format of the exported private key is determined by whether the address was generated in an old or new wallet.
Bitcoin Address Compressed
Public Key (130 characters [0-9A-F]):
Public Key (compressed, 66 characters [0-9A-F]):
Private Key WIF
51 characters base58, starts with a '5'
Private Key WIF Compressed
52 characters base58, starts with a 'K' or 'L'
Private Key Hexadecimal Format (64 characters [0-9A-F]):
Private Key Base64 (44 characters):
Private Key Mini Format (22, 26 or 30 characters, starts with an 'S'):
Private Key Base6 Format (99 characters [0-5]):
Private Key BIP38 Format (58 characters base58, starts with '6P'):
How do I make a wallet using dice? What is B6?
An important part of creating a Bitcoin wallet is ensuring the random numbers used to create the wallet are truly random. Physical randomness is better than computer generated pseudo-randomness. The easiest way to generate physical randomness is with dice. To create a Bitcoin private key you only need one six sided die which you roll 99 times. Stopping each time to record the value of the die. When recording the values follow these rules: 1=1, 2=2, 3=3, 4=4, 5=5, 6=0. By doing this you are recording the big random number, your private key, in B6 or base 6 format. You can then enter the 99 character base 6 private key into the text field above and click View Details. You will then see the Bitcoin address associated with your private key. You should also make note of your private key in WIF format since it is more widely used.