[GUIDE] How to sign a message from your Bitcoin address

[1millionClub 494]

In this post I’ll show you how to sign a message on the bitcoin blockchain. The process is more or less the same for the other coins.

To sign a message I am going to use the Electrum desktop light wallet. You can download it here.

Signing a message is important because you can use it as a proof of ownership of your funds, forum accounts or something else. By signing a message from an address you own and control, you make sure of that nobody can troll people for the things you didn’t do or say.

Here is how you do it,

Step 1:

Open electrum, click tools, from the menu click “sign/verify message”

Step 2:

Fill the empty spots. Write a message about whatever you want to tell people. Write down your public address. (Only use the address that you own/control, otherwise it is not going to work!) Then click “Sign”

That’s it!

After you clicked “Sign” the program will generate your signature.

If you later click the “Verify” button, you’ll see a message “Signature Verified”

If you want to verify someone else’s message. You basically fill the empty spaces with the information s/he gave you and again you need to click “Verify” to see if  s/he is telling the truth or not.

I hope you'll find this information useful in someday.

http://getinbitcoin.com/2018/12/16/how-to-sign-a-message/

edit:

You can also practice this information you learned here:

 

Edited October 8, 2019 by 1millionClub

[Consignee 2395]

That was a great tutorial for most of the user who are totally new here. Thank you for creating this tutorial. Would you mind editing the topic with this stake address so that users can stake an address here to follow a recovery step if needed in future.

Link- https://cryptotalk.org/topic/221-account-recovery-stake-any-address/

 

@epidemia Can you please sticky this tutorial?

[Consignee 2395]

17 minutes ago, Mad Robot said:

Your title is misleading it's only for Electrum. You don't explain how you do that with other wallets!

Why you didn't say it was only for Electrum in your title?

More or less every wallet is same. It's the basic guideline, if anyone can sign and verify message with Electrum, I believe they will be able to do with bitcoin core as well and other wallet. I remember I first used an altcoin wallet (Can't remember the name, it was long ago), I have learnt from there and I never feel later that I have to check a guideline for verify message anymore.

[Consignee 2395]

5 minutes ago, Mad Robot said:

Don't tell absurdities, you really think you'll be able to sign a message on blockchain.com with this tutorial? Impossible.

That's a web wallet. I even don't know if they have signing message service or not. I was talking about all qt wallet. All have the same format almost. Anyway, you can create a tutorial and share it here.

[hexwin 4931]

Only two wallets I know can do this sign-a-message function are  Electrum and Coinmoni,
and he just posted what he found on web, and posted proper contribution link.

He can correct the title and add Electrum Bitcoin wallet, but it is not 100% needed.

With this tutorial you can also claim FREE HEX coin if you hold bitcoin 😉 
and with my link you can get 20% bonus extra

Edited October 8, 2019 by hexwin

[xBDT Script 4371]

Just now, Mad Robot said:

Most of people sign messages with blockchain, they don't use Electrum. 

Wrong most of the people use Electrum not blockchain 😊

There are also people who use BitcoinCore too. Blockchain is an online wallet and it's risky to keep your coins there,

[xBDT Script 4371]

Just now, Mad Robot said:

Don't say absurdities. Most of people don't even know Electrum, you are a big geek or what?

Mate not sure from what reference you are talking it. Yes I am a geek and I have been in the space from long time. I am holding bitcoin and have seen the ATH but still held.

I am a regular bitcoiner.

If you are okay using an online hot wallet then be my guest.

[1millionClub 494]

16 hours ago, Consignee said:

That was a great tutorial for most of the user who are totally new here. Thank you for creating this tutorial. Would you mind editing the topic with this stake address so that users can stake an address here to follow a recovery step if needed in future.

Link- https://cryptotalk.org/topic/221-account-recovery-stake-any-address/

 

@epidemia Can you please sticky this tutorial?

You want me to put this link in my post? Did I understand correctly?

11 hours ago, Mad Robot said:

Most of people sign messages with blockchain, they don't use Electrum. People using Electrum are advanced users, they don't need tutorials.

You are definitely wrong. Most people do not use blockchain wallet and if anyone does, he/she really should not use that web-wallet as it is not really safe.

Edited October 9, 2019 by 1millionClub

[xBDT Script 4371]

10 minutes ago, Mad Robot said:

So you think people will learn Electrum to buy and use bitcoin? LMAO  This is total nonsense, or Bitcoin will never being used in real life.

Mate you have no idea what you are talking about. I can assure you that you are talking to some old bitcoiners here (me and @1millionClub judging from his post history here). You are just arguing without making any sense.

Bottom line:

Blockchain.com wallet is a hot wallet, an online wallet. It is not safe. Regular bitcoin user like us do not give a shit about online wallet.

Electrum or Bitcoin Core are the wallets we use. Yeah there are other wallets and also hardware wallets too. We even use multiSig wallet. Have you heard of them ever?

I bet no, no hurt feeling mate.

Edited October 8, 2019 by xBDT Script

[xBDT Script 4371]

Which wallet? You may want to specify it.

Make sure whatever the wallet is - you have the access of the keys.

[speedxp 111]

Is this only for segwit  bitcoin wallet? I have used this, but only to get the bitcoin address. If you don't have to sign, is there a problem with the address? because I am not an expert in this matter, so I want to ask. thank you

Edited October 8, 2019 by speedxp

[hexwin 4931]

This is used just to prove that you are the owner of specific address,
and that you own private key for that address.
Everyone should try and learn to sign-a-message

[Consignee 2395]

13 hours ago, 1millionClub said:

You want me to put this link in my post? Did I understand correctly?

Yup, exactly. You did already but I mentioned it not for practise 😁 People must stake an address so that they later can prove the authenticity of the account. What if my account along with email get hacked? I have no way to prove or recover but as long as I have an stake address here with signed message, I can prove that I'm the real owner of the account.

Mod has already sticked it, good to see some good stuff on the forum.

[hexwin 4931]

I will also add one more Tutorial here:

How to sign-a-message with Coinomi mobile wallet

Quote

 

Coinomi allows you to sign and verify messages on all supported coins. By signing a message with your address, you can prove that you own that address without the need to send any coins from it.

Signing:

1. Open the wallet of the coin you want to use for signing
2. On the "receive" screen, copy the address you want to sign with
3. Back to the "balance" screen, select "... - Sign/veirfy message"
4. Paste the address you want to sign on the first box
5. Write the address you want to sign. If participating on any airdrop or contest that requires it, make sure that the message is exactly the one they ask you to sign. A single extra character, or even replacing a lowercase letter for an uppercase one generates a signature different from the expected.
6. Press the "sign" button and confirm your password
7. Copy the signature completely, and share it along with the address and message to anyone, as proof that you control that address.

Verifying:

1. Open a wallet of the coin that was used to sign a message
2. Paste the address that was used to sign on the first box
3. Paste the message that was signed on the second box
4. Paste the signature on the third box
5. Press the "verify" button.
6. You will see a note saying "Message verified" if the signature matches the address, thus proving that whoever signed the message controls that address. Otherwise you will see a note saying "Message verification failed"

source article:
https://coinomi.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/29000025877-how-to-sign-verify-messages

 

Video with instruction for Signing and Verifying messages on Coinomi:

Website:
https://www.coinomi.com/

Edited October 9, 2019 by hexwin

[xBDT Script 4371]

Just now, hellboy4tr said:

how much does it cost to sing a message i just wonder about it. It is uniqe public key right? 

thank in advance good luck

LOL nothing!

Go to https://electrum.org/#download

Download the suitable file for you system. Make sure you find the signature too next to it.

Go to this site: https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-verify-your-electrum-download/

Learn how to verify the downloaded file

Once you have green signal that the downloaded file is original Electrum client then download it.

Create a wallet and explore the software to find how to sign.

Easy 😊

[Mohs3n71 0]

Thanks for the guide, it really helped me.I was very lazy to find out how it works by myself.thanks to you now I can sign my bitcoin messages.

thanks again bro

[xBDT Script 4371]

7 hours ago, Mohs3n71 said:

Thanks for the guide, it really helped me.I was very lazy to find out how it works by myself.thanks to you now I can sign my bitcoin messages.

thanks again bro

Well if you think you can really sign a message now then I would suggest you to stake an address here. 

This will help you to recover your account in case of any compromise. Also this will prove that you know how to sign 😊

Kidding. 

[Deadmoony 7]

Thank you very much for this guide, man. I really needed this kind of information, that you show in this guide. Sorry, I can make some mistakes in this comment, but I learn English only 4 months, XD

So much thank you, again

[xBDT Script 4371]

15 hours ago, buttercup said:

This post is helpful especially for the beginner of this forum and I'm one of them I hope I hope that this post will contribute to my learning in this forum. 

You really do not need to quote the entire post. It really slows down the interest to visit a topic. I would suggest you to read the forum rules please.

Yes this is a very good tutorial and it's one of the benefit which bitcoin address gives us. We can apply this in this forum too. You see the staked address topic  - go there and stake your address so that in future you can prove that you are the owner of this account indeed.

[Mathers 295]

On 10/15/2019 at 3:22 PM, MAK said:

every wallet have same procedure for sing in. but this is very use full for new or beginner users who did not know about this. Thank you for this sharing

The procedure could be a bit different for some other wallets, eg: Mycellium Wallet has a different way but it is more easier and self explanatory.

[xBDT Script 4371]

15 hours ago, tianate said:

Yеs this is often a really great tutoriаl and it's оne оf thе advаntаge which bitсoin аddrеss gives us. 

Almost all the wallet software, it may be any altcoin, give you the option to sign message and verify a message. But the problem is people don't bother the other addresses much. Everyone thinks about signing a message from a bitcoin address. It's probably because bitcoin blockchain is the most immutable till date. 

[cryptokram 102]

On 10/15/2019 at 10:22 PM, MAK said:

every wallet have same procedure for sing in. but this is very use full for new or beginner users who did not know about this. Thank you for this sharing

Correct, this is very useful to all newcomers in crypto space, if ever they are using Electrum wallets then if for some altcoins coinomi is suitable for this. with the tutorial of this topic I guess this will gonna be easy for them to understand for sure. 

[xBDT Script 4371]

Just now, Awaremooner said:

This is not applicable to every wallet. I have a Paxful wallets where I can not do this and my paxful wallet is good for peer to peer sales. This topic is more particular to certain wallets and not all. So the writer should have included wallet (s) with which you can do what he said

If I am not mistaken then puxful or local bitcoins - they are actually not giving you any wallet. They just give you an address from their own wallet which has their control only. You do not own the private key.

If you do not have the access of the private key then you are not in control of the funds, It's the same with coinbase wallet if I am not wrong and other exchanges like Binance and Kucoin.

You can only sign a Bitcoin address when you will have the access of the private key.

[lakhlomoha 485]

Thanks for this tutorial

And my question is ,there is other wallet that we can sigh a message like that?

i never try this option because i don;t know it at all 

[TimopheyKa 3900]

Many thanks for this information, it is very useful! And now I know how to use a cryptocurrency number. This information will be very useful for beginners, and very much help them!