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
5HpHagT65TZzG1PH3CSu63k8DbpvD8s5ip4nEB3kEsreAnchuDf 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