Random Numbers

In SX it was common for a command to invoke an internal Pseudo Random Number Generator. As a weak random number generator can introduce cryptographic weakness this technique has been obsoleted. Any BX command that requires a random number obtains that value as an argument. This places the responsibility of ensuring random number strength on end-users and also helps them understand the potential for problems.

The "seed" command is provided as a convenience, and is the only command that generates randomness. The seed command accepts a bit length argument, and has the default and minimum value of 128.

$ bx seed --bit_length 256

e4d28a5972ce0785477f39f58e424c5ef643b26894c50f8e024601f87736b8fe 

BX utilizes libbitcoin's deterministic ECDSA signing by default and as such requires no random seed, although the input-sign command gives the option to import a seed.