user1878: Similar to how the SHA256 hash competition exists to validate a transaction, I wonder if this concept can be ported to addresses, so that the first few characters is significant to a human reader.

Is there value in making a public key address start with human readable text?
What approaches exist to accomplish this?  Must the key pair be re-generated continuously or there there space to place a nonce?
Could this cause legal issues?  ...such as a key that contains text matching censored information which is replicated to countries that ban that information


user323: Yes, the concept is known, and called "vanity address". The problem with it is that it takes a lot of computing power. However, there is also a "split-key" method of generating vanity addresses, which lets you commission other people for the computing work. And finally, I created a website called Vanity Pool that handles a sort of free market of vanity miners and buyers.
As for the legal issues, I have already included a so called "illegal number" in the block chain as a part of my master thesis. So far Bitcoin hasn't been banned;).

1878: <p>Similar to how the SHA256 hash competition exists to validate a transaction, I wonder if this concept can be ported to addresses, so that the first few characters is significant to a human reader.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Is there value in making a public key address start with human readable text?</p></li>
<li><p>What approaches exist to accomplish this?  Must the key pair be re-generated continuously or there there space to place a nonce?</p></li>
<li><p>Could this cause legal issues?  ...such as a key that contains text matching censored information which is replicated to countries that ban that information</p></li>
</ul>
 323: <p>Yes, the concept is known, and called "<a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/3139/how-can-i-generate-a-vanity-bitcoin-address">vanity address</a>". The problem with it is that it takes a lot of computing power. However, there is also a <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/3853/can-one-safely-buy-vanity-addresses-from-a-third-party-without-risking-ones-coi">"split-key" method of generating vanity addresses</a>, which lets you commission other people for the computing work. And finally, I created a website called <a href="https://vanitypool.appspot.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Vanity Pool</a> that handles a sort of free market of vanity miners and buyers.</p>

<p>As for the legal issues, I have already included a so called <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/3444/has-any-illegal-data-been-saved-in-the-block-chain">"illegal number"</a> in the block chain as a part of my <a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=88149.0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">master thesis</a>. So far Bitcoin hasn't been banned;).</p>
