btc-keygen

Minimal offline Bitcoin key generator for cold storage.

ALPHA v0.0.4 — This software has not been independently audited. Do not use with funds you cannot afford to lose.

What it does

Generates a Bitcoin private key and its corresponding native SegWit (Bech32) address in a single execution. Prints both to stdout, keeps no state, and exits. Designed to run on an air-gapped machine for cold storage key ceremonies.

$ btc-keygen generate
address: bc1q...
wif: K...

Every run creates a new keypair. The tool does not store secrets. If you lose the output, there is no way to recover the key.

Features

Cryptographically secure randomness from the OS
secp256k1 validation using Bitcoin Core's libsecp256k1
Compressed public keys, native SegWit (Bech32) addresses
WIF private key export
Optional hex and public key output
JSON output for scripting
Memory zeroization of secret material on exit
Zero network code — fully offline
62 automated tests including known-answer vectors
Cross-platform: Linux, macOS, Windows, BSDs

Library usage

Add to your project:

cargo add btc-keygen

let key = btc_keygen::generate()?;
let wif = btc_keygen::encode_wif(&key);
let pubkey = btc_keygen::derive_pubkey(&key);
let address = btc_keygen::derive_address(&pubkey);

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

PrivateKey zeroizes its bytes when dropped. Full API docs at docs.rs/btc-keygen.

Install (CLI)

Download a pre-built binary from the latest release, verify the SHA256 checksum, and run it.

Or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/aguimaraes/btc-keygen.git
cd btc-keygen
cargo build --release
./target/release/btc-keygen generate

Requires Rust and a C compiler.

Usage

btc-keygen generate              # address + WIF
btc-keygen generate --hex        # also show raw private key hex
btc-keygen generate --pubkey     # also show compressed public key
btc-keygen generate --json       # JSON output
btc-keygen generate --hex --pubkey --json   # everything

Security

This tool is designed for air-gapped cold storage key generation. See the website for a plain-language explanation, or the docs/ directory for the full threat model, security assumptions, and dependency analysis.

License

Licensed under either of

at your option.

btc-keygen 0.0.4