Exploring the Mechanics behind Ether Presales

As the release of ether approaches, we will be publishing a series of blog posts on our development plans as well as the expected organizational structure. Today We will discuss the underlying mechanics. The Presale module is available on our website https://www.ethereum.org while limited supplies last.

What is?

The ether Sale is an HTML/JavaScript website application that allows people or companies to pre-purchase Ethereum tokens using Bitcoin. Ether Participants who buy it can use it to develop distributed applications on the Ethereum platform, or to pay for the use of applications on the platform following the launch of the genesis block. The application runs primarily in the browser, including generating pseudo-random numbers (PRNGs) and encrypting/decrypting user secrets.

AdditionallyWe have produced a standalone pure Python Application that can be used through a command-line interface to buy ether, instead of the website store.

Website Workflow:

1. After You agree to the store’s terms and conditionsThe buyer then enters the desired amount, their email address, and a password for encryption. A “random” Their email addresses are based on seed. Transaction specific bitcoin and Ethereum .
2. He Username The buyer sends bitcoin payments to the generated address on the store page. This is also included in a downloadable encrypted file. When The browser monitors bitcoin’s blockchain and when it registers enough funds have been sent, it creates a new transaction to forward the bitcoin to the address for genesis. This Transaction is signed by buyer’s browser, and sent to the Bitcoin network. No Transaction data is kept in The Any server that is the Bitcoin Blockchain can be used as a shopping database.
3. After The transaction was submitted successfully. Username The Buyer is prompted once again to download a copy of his encrypted wallet backup, as well as receive an email with another backup file. The The buyer should be aware that storing the wallet in an email as an attachment to an email account can expose it to hackers. The Email attachments should be saved to a secure computer as soon possible. The email should then be deleted from your email system.

(The This is technical information. The GUI we created summarizes it all in a very user-friendly manner.

Wallet The encryption process

1. Randomgen A SEED.
2. BKPKEY = sha3(SEED + “x02″)[:16]
3. KEY = (PW) pbkdf2
4. ENCSEED = encrypt(KEY,SEED)
5. PORTFOLIO = [ ENCSEED, BKPKEY ] (plus other non-sensitive data such as ethereum address and bitcoin address).

The SEED derives addresses and private key of BTC/ETH from these addresses.