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Ethereum is at one of its most active growth periods. 2020 has so far been positive for the coin. It has seen significant growth in value. Even though yet to reach the all-time high, it's been sustainable. 

One of the reasons for the coin's growth is the substantial growth of the DeFi coins. The DeFi projects have been rising in the wake of a need for security. They operate on Ethereum's network hence the increase. Ethereum is still also yet to launch the ETH 2.O.

The rise in this coin has seen it elicit interest from several quarters. Most people are beginning to consider it a sound investment. The effects are evident in the increase in trades. 

Selling and buying of the coin involve sending assets to different addresses. The need for crypto addresses is at an all-time high. 

Read along to understand how to create an Ethereum address; 

Facts About Ethereum Addresses

Ethereum is all about security; the same applies to its address. The addresses are anonymous such that nobody can establish a recipient of a transaction. 

You don't need the internet to create an Ethereum address. It provides for offline creation from any computer. They are also free to produce.  

Same to Bitcoin, the Ethereum addresses are single-use. It helps for security reasons. One can quickly establish a pattern to follow repeated address use. 

The Ethereum addresses are long. They are a maximum of 42 characters. Such many characters can lead to errors. Most users prefer the addresses in the form of scannable codes. They use mobile devices to scan for faster and accurate transactions. 

Ethereum addresses come from public keys. Private keys, on the other hand, facilitate the sending and receiving of Ether.  The addresses are not case sensitive. They can come in both lower and upper cases.

Creating the Ethereum Address from the Keys 

Creating an Ethereum address is not as complicated as for Bitcoin. It involves extracting the private key, then the public key, and converting it into an address. Use the open-source libraries like EthereumJ to generate the private keys. The private keys are random 64 (hex) or 32 bytes and 256 bits characters.  

Use the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) to create the public keys. The platform uses secp256k1 in generating these keys. The 128 characters or 64 bytes public keys are part of the elliptic curve. 

Ethereum addresses come from applying keccak256 algorithm to the public key. It goes to the x and y points on the key. Take the last 20 bytes from the resulting node. Add an "Ox" at the beginning to find an Ethereum address. 

The process seems complicated. Yet, there are various key generators to use. You don't have to struggle with all the algorithms in most cases. One of the most reliable key generators is GenerateAsymmetricKeyPair. After which you encode the keys to generate the address. 

The addresses are long and might be complex to note. That is why turning them into scannable QR codes come in handy. Use BarcodeImage to create the associated QR code for the address. 

You can then transfer the QR code to your phone using SendMessage. You will eventually save the private keys into storable files for later use. 

The Ethereum keys come from either the Mainnet or the testnet. Both of them create Ethereum addresses in the same process. They share the same encoding. Still, they are independent of one another such that transactions from Mainnet don't work on testnet and vice versa.  

Choosing an Ethereum Wallet 

Security is essential in Ethereum. You need a reliable wallet to keep the private keys safe. Any unauthorized access to the private keys makes you vulnerable to losses. The wallet keeps your addresses safe. 

Choose an Ethereum wallet based on your preferences. You can use either a third-party or your wallet. The third-party wallet is the easiest to access. They are services provided by the already established token exchanges. 

The primary concern with using a third-party wallet is the lack of complete control. The exchange takes control of your funds as they have your private keys. There are also security concerns for some exchanges. Cases of exchange hacking have occurred before. 

The operational node of the wallet is also essential. You can use either a full or not full node. A full node allows you direct access to the Ethereum blockchain. If you lack the entire node, then you might have to join with other nodes to receive complete information.  

Operating a full node requires a desktop wallet. It involves downloading the Ethereum network, thus turning your computer into a node. They are big and require properly functional operating systems. 

The other option to consider in Ethereum wallets is hot and cold. The hot wallets are online storage. They are easily accessible anywhere with internet access. 

The major drawback of hot storage is security concerns. Online operations are susceptible to hacking and theft of assets. 

The cold wallets are offline storage. You only connect them online when there is a need. They are more secure as they don't risk hacking.

Bottom Line 

Learning how to create an Ethereum address is not the most challenging concept in crypto. Building an Ethereum address is more straightforward than that of Bitcoin. It only requires you to extract private keys then public keys to form the address. 

There are several key generators to use. The system also comes with QR code creators for convenient access and operations from the phone. 

The security of the addresses is paramount. You need a secure Ethereum wallet to protect the private keys. You can choose to run the whole node or partial. 

You have access to either third-party or your own wallet. The wallets can also be either hot or cold. 

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