RIPEMD-160 (RACE Integrity Primitives Evaluation Message Digest) is a 160-bit cryptographic hash function developed in Belgium. It's part of the RIPEMD family, designed as an alternative to MD5 and SHA.

Primarily in Bitcoin for creating addresses (HASH160 = RIPEMD-160(SHA-256)), PGP key fingerprints, and some certificate systems. It's also used in other cryptocurrencies derived from Bitcoin.

HASH160 is a double hash: RIPEMD-160 applied to SHA-256 output. Bitcoin addresses are Base58Check encoded HASH160 values of public keys. This provides 160-bit security in less space.

For its 160-bit output, RIPEMD-160 provides 80-bit collision resistance. While not broken, it's considered less secure than SHA-256 for new applications. For Bitcoin's use case with HASH160, it remains adequate.

Bitcoin uses HASH160 (RIPEMD-160 of SHA-256) because it produces shorter addresses than SHA-256 alone while maintaining security. The 160-bit output results in more compact Bitcoin addresses.

Both produce 160-bit hashes, but RIPEMD-160 has a different design. SHA-1 is now broken for collision resistance, while RIPEMD-160 hasn't suffered the same practical attacks.

RIPEMD-160 outputs 160 bits (20 bytes), displayed as 40 hexadecimal characters. This is shorter than SHA-256 (64 chars) but longer than MD5 (32 chars).

This tool generates raw RIPEMD-160 hashes. For Bitcoin addresses, you'd also need SHA-256, Base58Check encoding, and version bytes. Use a dedicated Bitcoin address tool for that.

The algorithm is stable and final. No updates are needed as it's a mathematical function. However, for new projects, SHA-256 or SHA-3 are generally recommended.

Yes. The RIPEMD-160 algorithm runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your input never leaves your device.

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