G

• G refers to a distinguished point on the secpt256k1 elliptic curve known as the generator or base point.

Using elliptic curve point addition, one may add G to itself over and over again to form the sequence *G, *G + *G, *G + *G + *G, ... . Eventually every point on the elliptic curve will be generated in this sequence. Although this property is true for any point on the elliptic curve, the particular choice of *G is chosen to be secure against attacks when used in the context of public key cryptography.

• G in compressed form is:

• G = 02 79BE667E F9DCBBAC 55A06295 CE870B07 029BFCDB 2DCE28D9 59F2815B 16F81798

and in uncompressed form is:

• G = 04 79BE667E F9DCBBAC 55A06295 CE870B07 029BFCDB 2DCE28D9 59F2815B 16F81798 483ADA77 26A3C465 5DA4FBFC 0E1108A8 FD17B448 A6855419 9C47D08F FB10D4B8

The order *n of *G and the cofactor *h are:

• n = FFFFFFFF FFFFFFFF FFFFFFFF FFFFFFFE BAAEDCE6 AF48A03B BFD25E8C D0364141
• h = 01

The order *n is the number of times *G may be added to itself to get the identity. This generators a subgroup of the group of elliptic curve points, and the fact that the cofactor *h of this subgroup is 1 tells us that this subgroup is the whole group, i.e. *G generates the entrie group.