Vanity Address

A vanity address is a wallet address that contains a chosen pattern, such as a name or a run of zeros, at its start or end. Addresses are derived from a private key and cannot be picked directly, so vanity tools generate key after key until one produces a matching address. Each extra character makes the search much longer, so long patterns need serious computing power. People use vanity addresses for branding, to make donation addresses recognisable or, for contracts, to save small amounts of fees. The risks are real. Keys made by an outside service or a flawed tool may be known to someone else; in September 2022 the market maker Wintermute lost about 160 million dollars after an address made with the Profanity vanity tool was compromised. Scammers also create lookalike addresses for address poisoning. Also see brute force attack.