# vbuterin/pybitcointools

SImple, common-sense Bitcoin-themed Python ECC library

Repository: https://github.com/vbuterin/pybitcointools
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/pybitcointools
License Family: other
Last push: 2024-07-03T07:01:58+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4772, "days_push": 791, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1332, forks 880 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:24.476952+00:00)

## What it is
A simple, common-sense Python library for Bitcoin-themed elliptic curve cryptography (secp256k1), including key handling, signing, and transaction tools. The original author has explicitly stopped maintaining it and points users to an externally maintained fork.

## Use cases
- generate and manage bitcoin private and public keys in python
- sign and verify bitcoin transactions with secp256k1
- do elliptic curve math for bitcoin in a lightweight library
- create and serialize raw bitcoin transactions
- learn how bitcoin cryptography works by reading simple python code

## When to choose
- you need a minimal, readable python ECC/bitcoin library for learning or experimentation
- you are pinning an old dependency and only need basic secp256k1 operations

## When to avoid
- you need a maintained, security-audited library for production bitcoin handling
- you want ongoing bug fixes or support - the author has abandoned this project
- you need modern bitcoin features like segwit or taproot support

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: abandoned
- function: cryptography, security, serialization
- domain: security, developer-tools
- platform: python, cross-platform
- tags: bitcoin, ecc, elliptic-curve, secp256k1, transactions, unmaintained, cryptocurrency

## Member repositories
- vbuterin/pybitcointools (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:24.476952+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:45:14.314290+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/vbuterin/pybitcointools (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:24.476952+00:00, sha 3409ab19a52a)
  - registry_pypi: https://pypi.org/pypi/pybitcointools/json (fetched 2026-08-29T12:04:32.994802+00:00, sha e38175a3434c)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.