Exploring the Idea of a Brain Master Key

I’ve been looking around and can't find any way to generate a master key from a password. You know like those brain wallets that create private keys from a password. Isn’t it odd that there are no brain master private key generators? Is there something I’m missing?

It could be super simple. Just use SHA512 instead of SHA256 to get the right size for a master private key. You could turn that 512-bit result into an xprv key. But yeah, it’s just as insecure as brain wallets. Like you said, why create an HD version of something already proven to be insecure?

Real devs focus on building better things from good ideas. Look at BIP-32, a solid proposal for key generation, then they added BIP-39 to make it even better. They keep improving with BIP-43, BIP-44 and so on. Nobody wants to build on a shaky concept like brain wallets.

Brain wallets were meant to be cold storage, which kinda helps with security since they don’t sign transactions. But still, they’re insecure. HD wallets are better for maintaining privacy even when signing transactions.

By the way, warpwallet is trying to tackle some security issues by using salt and scrypt instead of SHA-256, with tons of rounds for extra protection.

I actually built my own setup as an experiment a while back. I can generate endless private keys from it. I even got access to my Bitcoins in that brain wallet I made! But honestly, I wouldn’t use it for anything serious.

So you’re talking about signing stuff, huh? Is that about future-proofing against quantum computing? True, if it’s not used to spend, but the main issue is still the weak 'human entropy'. Even long brain wallets can fall to brute force.

Didn’t think about QC. I was more worried about classic attacks and yeah, I get it, low entropy is the real problem. The thing is, brain wallets don’t keep your privacy safe since they use one address for all UTXOs. Better to use a BrainHDWallet.

Brain wallets are risky, no doubt. You can play around with them if you want to see how they work, but there are secure options out there. Just go for a seed phrase and maybe a hidden wallet with a BIP39 Passphrase. Don’t just hash your readable password to make a brain wallet. Even if you hash it, it’s easy to revert back to the original password. Seriously, unless it’s for a test, don’t trust brain wallets with your funds.