For assistance creating or funding bitcoin / ethereum addresses, see below.
First, ensure you've created an issuing address appropriate for the Bitcoin chain you are using. Please note:
- regtest or testnet addresses will start with 'm' or 'n'
- mainnet addresses will start with '1'
These steps involve storing secure information on a USB. Do not plug in this USB when your computer's wifi is on.
- Use bitaddress.org
- for testnet addresses go to bitaddress.org?testnet=true
- for mainnet addresses go to bitaddress.org
- Create an 'issuing address', i.e. the address from which your certificates are issued.
- save the unencrypted private key to a file (we recommend to store it on a removable drive for security).
- save the public address as the
issuing_addressvalue in conf.ini
If you are using a local bitcoin node, you can create addresses by command line. See bitcoind.md
Currently Blockcerts just supports issuing to the Ropsten Ethereum testnet, and the Ethereum mainnet. In Ethereum a public/private key pair is the same accross all test/main networks.
These steps involve storing secure information on a USB. Do not plug in this USB when your computer's wifi is on.
- Create issuing address on Myetherwallet
- Go to https://www.myetherwallet.com/.
- For the best security turn off your connection to the internet when you are on the create wallet page.
- Go through the create wallet process
- Store the private key on the USB stick and unplug it afterwards.
- Copy the public key to the
issuing_addressvalue in conf.ini
Note ensure you've transferred sufficient funds to your issuing address to cover the transaction fee. Some notes:
- The transaction fee is the same no matter the number of certificates in the batch
- For Bitcoin:
- The default transaction fee used by cert-issuer is 60,000 satoshis for bitcoin (~$2.88 USD, 10/11/2017)
- Because the transaction fee is a factor in confirmation time, you may decide to increase or decrease this value in the config file (read more about current transaction fee/latency estimates: https://bitcoinfees.21.co/)
- For Ethereum:
- The default gasprice is set at 20 GWei, which makes the transaction price about 0.00047 ETH (~$0.14 USD, 10/11/2017)
- Lowering the default setting may impact the confirmation time. Please reference http://ethgasstation.info/ to find a fitting gasprice.
- Request some testnet coins by searching for “Testnet Faucet”, and entering your issuing public address. It may take a while for the transaction to be confirmed.
- Important: make sure you follow the guidance of the testnet faucet provider!
- If this is your first time purchasing Bitcoin or Ethereum, start by reading starter information:
- For Bitcoin: [https://bitcoin.org/en/getting-started] Specifically, the first section “How to use Bitcoin” is an overview of choosing a wallet, obtaining your first Bitcoins, and securing your money.
- For Ethereum: https://myetherwallet.github.io/knowledge-base/getting-started/getting-started-new.html - MyEtherWallet's knowledge base getting started entry.
- Transfer a small amount of money to the issuer address created in step 1.