The Base58 alphabet powers Bitcoin’s Wallet Import Format (WIF), enabling secure and error-resistant private key encoding. By excluding ambiguous characters like 0, O, I, and l, it ensures accuracy for users handling sensitive cryptographic data.
Base58 Characters: Full List
Digits (1-9)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Uppercase (A-Z, Excluding O/I)
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
J
K
L
M
N
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Lowercase (a-z, Excluding l)
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z
How WIF Protects Bitcoin Private Keys
- Checksum Validation: Detects typos before key import
- Compression Flags: “K” or “L” prefixes indicate compressed keys
- Human-Friendly: Base58 avoids ambiguous characters
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Base58 vs. Base64: Key Differences
Base58
- No 0, O, I, l
- Used for Bitcoin keys/addresses
- 58-character set
Base64
- Includes +, /, =
- Common in web applications
- 64-character set
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