Bitcoin Base58 Encoding Utilities (C++)

This repository contains a systems-level implementation of the Base58 encoding algorithm, which is a fundamental component of the Bitcoin protocol used for creating human-readable addresses (e.g., P2PKH and P2SH).

🚀 Why Base58?

Unlike standard Base64, Bitcoin's Base58 alphabet excludes visually ambiguous characters to prevent errors in manual transcription:

• No 0 (zero) or O (capital o)
• No I (capital i) or l (lower-case L)
• No + (plus) or / (slash) symbols

🛠 Features

• Zero-Byte Preservation: Correct handles leading zeros (encoded as '1' in Bitcoin).
• Modern C++: Implemented using std::vector and std::string for memory safety.
• Lightweight: Zero external dependencies (Standard Library only).

📦 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• A C++ compiler (e.g., g++)
• make utility

Installation & Build

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone [https://github.com/G-ojies/cpp-bitcoin-encoding-utils.git](https://github.com/G-ojies/cpp-bitcoin-encoding-utils.git)
   cd cpp-bitcoin-encoding-utils