How to create Bitcoin Address in PHP

Question

I would like to generate a Bitcoin-address (public/private key) in PHP but I don't understand the parameters. For example in the below lines of code:

$mpk = '675b7041a347223984750fe3ab229df0c9f960e7ec98226b7182a2cb1990e39901feecf5a670f1d788ab29f626e20de424f049d216fc6f4c6ec42506763fa28e';

for ($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++) {
    print addr_from_mpk($mpk, $i) . "\n";
}

 Is $mpk the private key? If I change a single char in $mpk, I get an error.

Is there a working way to generate a Bitcoin-Address in PHP?

Answer 1

You need to understand that Bitcoin address and public/private key are not the same. Address is basically a representation of your public key. In your code $mpk is a master public key. You do not need an mpk to make a bitcoin address. An MPK is for a deterministic wallet, and is a serialized [x, y] point. So you will get an error if you pass a point that's not on the curve.

You could refer to the following PHP code that has created key-pair the right way:  https://github.com/RobKohr/PHP-Bitcoin-Address-Creator

Hope it helps!

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Thanks.