MultiSigBTC is a project that is created in the context of the subject “Decentralized Technologies”, that take place in the master’s degree program "Data and Web Science" of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. It is developed from scratch by Kalyvas Emmanouil using the python library bitcoin-utils developed by Kostas Karasavvas.
MultiSigBTC is a tool that can be used to create and maintain multi signature addresses that can be used to send and receive funds in the Bitcoin blockchain. A multi signature address, is an address that have m owners and requires n of them to agree upon a transaction. MultiSigBTC can theoretically create multi signature addresses with any m and n combination. Please note that this a an experimental tool that was not tested thoroughly (at least not yet) and it is not recommended using it on mainnet.
MultiSigBTC.py [--help] [-n {testnet,mainnet,regtest}] [-u RPCUSER] [-p RPCPASS] [-h HOST] [-o] command
- create_new_address
- create_multisig_address
- create_multisig_transaction
- sign_multisig_transaction
- get_private_key
- get_signed_multisig_transaction
- get_address_balance
- send_transaction
| Description | |
|---|---|
| --help | show help and exit |
| -n, --network | Set the network type we are working with. One of these values: {'regtest','testnet','mainnet'}. Default value is 'regtest'. |
| -u, --rpcuser | Set the the rpc user used to connect to the network |
| -p, --rpcpass | Set the rpc password used to connect to the network |
| -h, --host | Set thr host to connect to. By default localhost (127.0.0.1) is used. |
| -o , --output | Write results to file, can be combined with all the commands that return a result. Results are in JSON. |
MultiSigBTC.py create_new_address [-h] [-s SEED] [-t Address Type] keyName password
Create a new private-public key pair along with its legacy bitcoin address
| Description | |
|---|---|
| keyName | The name of the key (can be anything, avoid create multiple keys with the same name) |
| password | Password to lock the private key (remember it, you need it to unlock it) |
| Description | |
|---|---|
| -h, --help | show help exit |
| -s SEED, --seed SEED | The seed used for the random generator (a specific seed produces the same address) |
| -t, --address_type | The type of the generated address (legacy or segwit) |
MultiSigBTC.py create_multisig_address [-h] [-t Address Type] signaturesRequired keyfile [keyfile ...]
Create a multi signature address given the public keys you want to be involved
| Description | |
|---|---|
| signaturesRequired | Number of required signatures to unlock UTXO |
| keyfile | The file containing the key to be used for the multi signature address funds (can be created with the command create_new_address -o path). You can also privide the JSON result of create_new_address or name and public key pairs or any combination of the expected input formats. |
| Description | |
|---|---|
| -h, --help | show help and exit |
| -t, --address_type | The type of the generated address (legacy or segwit) |
MultiSigBTC.py create_multisig_transaction [-h] address amount fee multisigKeyFile
Create an unsigned multisignature transaction (Note: it needs to be signed by the owners with the command sign_transaction)
| Description | |
|---|---|
| address | Address to send the transaction to |
| amount | Amount to spend |
| fee | Fee amount to pay |
| multisigKeyFile | The file containing the multi signature keys (can be created with create_multisig_address -o path). You can also provide the json result of create_multisig_address in place of multisigKeyFile |
| Description | |
|---|---|
| -h, --help | show help and exit |
MultiSigBTC.py sign_multisig_transaction [-h] transactionFile addressFile password
Add a signature to a multisig transaction. Use to sign a transaction created with create_multisig_transaction. Please note that every time someone signs the transaction, the next person needs to sign the transaction using the previous result in order to maintain all the signatures
| Description | |
|---|---|
| transactionFile | The file containing the details for the unsigned or partially signed transaction (can be created with create_multisig_transaction -o path). You can also provide the json result of create_multisig_transaction in place of transactionFile |
| addressFile | The file containing the encrypted private key (can becreated with create_new_address -o path) or the private key itself. If you provide the private key itself, you must give the key name in place of password. This is important for the order of the keys. The name of the key is defined durting the multisig address creation |
| password | The password to decrypt the private key or if you gave the private key itself you need to set the name of the key as defined during the multisig address generation |
| Description | |
|---|---|
| -h, --help | show help and exit |
MultiSigBTC.py get_private_key [-h] keyFile password
Decrypts a private key created with this script using the user password
| Description | |
|---|---|
| keyFile | Key file containing private key (can be created with create_new_address -o path). In place of keyFile you can also put the encrypted private key string |
| password | Password used to lock the private key |
| Description | |
|---|---|
| -h, --help | show this help message and exit |
MultiSigBTC.py get_signed_multisig_transaction [-h] transactionFile
Signs and returns the given transaction
| Description | |
|---|---|
| transactionFile | The file containing the details for the transaction and the required signatures (can be created with -o path sign_multisig_transaction) You can also provide the json result of sign_multisig_transaction in place of transactionFile |
| Description | |
|---|---|
| -h, --help | show help and exit |
MultiSigBTC.py get_address_balance [-h] addressFile
Get the balance of the given address
| Description | |
|---|---|
| addressFile | A result file containing an address (the file can be cerated with create_new_address -o path or create_multisig_address -o path) You can also set the address string itself |
MultiSigBTC.py send_transaction [-h] transactionFile
Sends the transaction to the network
| Description | |
|---|---|
| transactionFile | A file containing the signed transaction (the file can be cerated with get_signed_multisig_transaction -o path or get_signed_multisig_transaction -o path) You can also provide the signed transaction in raw hex format in place of transactionFile |
| Description | |
|---|---|
| -h, --help | show help and exit |