diff --git a/docs/PublicKey.md b/docs/PublicKey.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a89d0b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/PublicKey.md @@ -0,0 +1,31 @@ +# Public Key + +Represents a bitcoin public key and is needed to be able to receive bitcoin, as is usually represented as a bitcoin [Address](Address.md), see the official [Bitcoin Wiki](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Technical_background_of_version_1_Bitcoin_addresses). A PublicKey in Bitcore is an immutable object and can be instantiated from a [Point](Crypto.md), string, [PrivateKey](PrivateKey.md), Buffer and a [BN](Crypto.md). + +## Instantiate a Public Key + +Here is how to instantiate a public key: + +```javascript + +var privateKey = new PrivateKey(); + +// from a private key +var publicKey = new PublicKey(privateKey); + +// from a der hex encoded string +var publicKey2 = new PublicKey('02a1633cafcc01ebfb6d78e39f687a1f0995c62fc95f51ead10a02ee0be551b5dc'); + +``` + +## Validating a Public Key + +A public key point should be on the [secp256k1](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Secp256k1) curve, instantiating a new PublicKey will validate this and will throw an error if it's invalid. To check that a public key is valid: + +```javascript +if (PublicKey.isValid('02a1633cafcc01ebfb6d78e39f687a1f0995c62fc95f51ead10a02ee0be551b5dc')){ + // valid public key +} +``` + +Note: It's important to note that there are two possible ways to represent public key, the standard is *compressed* and includes the x value and parity (as represented above in the documentation). There is also a longer version that is *uncompressed* which includes both x and y values, and using this can generate a different bitcoin address, so it's important to note this possibility, however it's discouraged to be used. \ No newline at end of file