Crate btc_keygen 

Minimal offline Bitcoin key generator for cold storage.

Generates a secp256k1 private key from OS-provided cryptographic randomness and derives the corresponding WIF, compressed public key, and native SegWit (Bech32) address. Designed for air-gapped key ceremonies.

Library usage

The public API is four functions and one type:

Function	Input	Output
generate	—	Result<PrivateKey, Error>
encode_wif	&PrivateKey	String (starts with K or L, 52 chars)
derive_pubkey	&PrivateKey	[u8; 33] (compressed public key)
derive_address	&[u8; 33]	String (Bech32 address, starts with bc1q)

// 1. Generate a private key from OS randomness
let key = btc_keygen::generate()?;

// 2. Encode as WIF (for wallet import)
let wif = btc_keygen::encode_wif(&key);

// 3. Derive the compressed public key
let pubkey = btc_keygen::derive_pubkey(&key);

// 4. Derive the Bitcoin address
let address = btc_keygen::derive_address(&pubkey);

PrivateKey zeroizes its bytes when dropped — you do not need to clear it manually.

Security

• Entropy comes from the OS CSPRNG via getrandom.
• Private key bytes are zeroized in memory when PrivateKey is dropped.
• No networking code — the crate cannot leak secrets over the network.
• Elliptic curve operations use Bitcoin Core’s libsecp256k1.

Structs

Error

Error returned when key generation fails.

PrivateKey

A validated secp256k1 private key that zeroizes its bytes on drop.

Functions

derive_address

Derives a native SegWit (P2WPKH) Bech32 address from a compressed public key.

derive_pubkey

Derives the compressed public key (33 bytes) from a private key.

encode_wif

Encodes a private key as a Wallet Import Format (WIF) string.

generate

Generates a new Bitcoin private key using OS-provided cryptographic randomness.