On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 3:38 AM, Jack Scott <jack.scott.public@gmail.com> wrote:

A method is proposed to generate a Bitcoin private key by using a physical key in conjunction with image recognition software and a PIN. Use edge detection software applied to incoming video feed to convert the shape of a physical key into an equation that describes the key. The hash of the key's equation plus a user generated five digit pin can then be used to create a Bitcoin private key.

Some practical nits:

- Physical keys are vulnerable to photography-based reproduction attacks. That gets even worse if you use them to identify to a digital system as you can leave out the tiresome manual reproduction step.

- The output from computer vision algorithms is notoriously noisy. If you use that as input for hashing a private key, it may become hard/impossible to reproduce (also, physical objects may deform over time).

Wladimir