Private key generation

To generate the private key, execute the following command:

$ openssl ecparam -name secp256k1 -genkey -noout -out ec-privatekey.pem
$ cat ec-privatekey.pem
-----BEGIN EC PRIVATE KEY-----
MHQCAQEEIJHUIm9NZAgfpUrSxUk/iINq1ghM/ewn/RLNreuR52h/oAcGBSuBBAAK oUQDQgAE0G33mCZ4PKbg5EtwQjk6ucv9Qc9DTr8JdcGXYGxHdzr0Jt1NInaYE0GG ChFMT5pK+wfvSLkYl5ul0oczwWKjng==
-----END EC PRIVATE KEY-----  

The file named ec-privatekey.pem now contains the Elliptic Curve (EC) private key that is generated based on the secp256k1 curve. In order to generate a public key from a private key, issue the following command:

$ openssl ec -in ec-privatekey.pem -pubout -out ec-pubkey.pem 
read EC key
writing EC key  

Reading the file produces the following ...

Get Mastering Blockchain - Second Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.