Grind a Vanity Public Key on Solana

Generate custom Solana addresses with memorable prefixes or suffixes for branded tokens, recognizable program IDs, or vanity wallets.

What You'll Learn

What vanity addresses are and why they're useful
How to use solana-keygen grind to generate custom addresses
Performance expectations and optimization tips
Security considerations for vanity keypairs

Prerequisites

Solana CLI installed

What Are Vanity Addresses?

A vanity address is a Solana public key that contains a specific, human-readable pattern. For example:

TOKEN... - A token mint address starting with "TOKEN"
...CAFE - An address ending with "CAFE"
ABC123... - Branded prefix for a project called ABC123

Vanity addresses are purely cosmetic—they work exactly like regular addresses but are easier to recognize and remember.

Use Cases

Use Case	Example Pattern	Why It Matters
Token mint address	`USDC...`, `BONK...`	Brand recognition, easier verification
Program ID	`PROG...`	Distinguishable in explorer
Collection address	`NFT...`	Recognizable collections
Personal wallet	`YOUR...`	Memorable address
Project treasury	`DAO...`	Clear purpose identification

Using solana-keygen grind

The solana-keygen grind command generates keypairs until it finds one matching your criteria.

Basic Prefix Search

Find an address starting with specific characters:

# Find address starting with "ABC"
solana-keygen grind --starts-with ABC:1

The :1 means "find 1 match". The command outputs the keypair file when found.

Suffix Search

Find an address ending with specific characters:

# Find address ending with "XYZ"
solana-keygen grind --ends-with XYZ:1

Combined Search

Search for both prefix and suffix:

# Find address starting with "AB" AND ending with "YZ"
solana-keygen grind --starts-with AB:1 --ends-with YZ:1

Multiple Patterns

Search for any of several patterns:

# Find address starting with "TOKEN" OR "MINT"
solana-keygen grind --starts-with TOKEN:1 --starts-with MINT:1

Case Sensitivity

By default, the search is case-sensitive. Use --ignore-case for case-insensitive matching:

# Case-sensitive (default) — only matches exact case
solana-keygen grind --starts-with ABC:1

# Case-insensitive — matches "abc", "Abc", "aBc", etc.
solana-keygen grind --starts-with ABC:1 --ignore-case

Output Options

Specify output file location:

solana-keygen grind --starts-with ABC:1 --output-directory ./vanity-keys/

Optimization Tips

Use all CPU cores - The grind command uses multiple threads by default.

Start simple - Begin with 3-4 characters and increase if you have time.

Run overnight - For 5+ characters, start the grind before leaving your computer.

Practical Examples

Create a Branded Token Mint

# 1. Grind for a token-related prefix
solana-keygen grind --starts-with MYTKN:1 --output-directory ./

# 2. This creates a file like: MYTKN...abc123.json
# 3. Use this keypair when creating your token mint

# With MPLX CLI, specify this keypair for token creation
mplx toolbox token-create --keypair ./MYTKNxyz123....json

Create a Recognizable Program ID

For Anchor programs, you can grind a keypair for your program ID:

# 1. Grind for program prefix
solana-keygen grind --starts-with PROG:1

# 2. Move to your Anchor project
mv PROGxyz....json ./target/deploy/my_program-keypair.json

# 3. Update declare_id! in your program
# declare_id!("PROGxyz...");

Create Multiple Options

Generate several options to choose from:

# Find 5 addresses starting with "NFT"
solana-keygen grind --starts-with NFT:5 --output-directory ./vanity-options/

# Review the generated addresses
ls ./vanity-options/

Security Considerations

Vanity Keypairs Are Still Secure

The grinding process is random search, not cryptographic weakening. A vanity keypair is exactly as secure as a regular keypair.

Best Practices

Generate locally - Always grind on your own machine, never use online generators
Secure the output - Treat vanity keypairs with the same security as any keypair
Verify the file - Check that the file contains the expected public key

# Verify the keypair
solana-keygen pubkey ./MYTKNxyz....json
# Should output: MYTKNxyz...

What NOT to Do

Never use online vanity generators - they could steal your private key
Never share your grinding progress or partial results
Never assume a vanity address is more or less secure than others

Alternative: GPU Grinding

For longer patterns, community tools use GPU acceleration:

solana-keygen-cuda - NVIDIA GPU acceleration
VanitySearch-Solana - Cross-platform GPU support

These can be 100-1000x faster than CPU grinding but require setup and verification that the tools are safe.

Trust Warning

Third-party grinding tools could potentially compromise your keypair. Only use well-audited, open-source tools, and verify the generated keypairs work correctly before using them with real funds.

Verifying Your Vanity Keypair

After grinding, always verify:

# 1. Check the public key matches your pattern
solana-keygen pubkey ./your-vanity-keypair.json

# 2. Verify the keypair file is valid
solana-keygen verify <EXPECTED_PUBKEY> ./your-vanity-keypair.json

# 3. Test with a small transaction on devnet
solana config set --url devnet
solana config set --keypair ./your-vanity-keypair.json
solana airdrop 1
solana balance

Using Vanity Addresses with Metaplex

Token Creation

# Create a token with a vanity mint address
# First, grind the keypair
solana-keygen grind --starts-with COOL:1

# Use with MPLX CLI (specify as mint keypair)
mplx toolbox token-create --name "Cool Token" --symbol "COOL"

NFT Collection

When creating collections with the MPLX CLI, you can use a vanity address for your collection:

# Grind collection address
solana-keygen grind --starts-with ART:1

# Use in collection creation
mplx core create-collection --keypair ./ARTxyz....json

Next Steps

Solana keypairs and wallets - Keypair security fundamentals
Getting SOL for development - Fund your new vanity wallet
MPLX CLI token creation - Create tokens with your vanity address

FAQ

How long will grinding take?

It depends on pattern length. 3 characters: seconds. 4 characters: minutes. 5 characters: hours. 6+ characters: days or longer.

Is a vanity address less secure?

No. The grinding process is pure random search. The resulting keypair has the same cryptographic strength as any randomly generated keypair.

Can I grind for patterns in the middle of the address?

No, solana-keygen grind only supports prefix (starts-with) and suffix (ends-with) patterns. Middle patterns would require custom tooling.

Why can't I find certain characters?

Solana addresses use base58 encoding, which excludes: 0 (zero), O (uppercase o), I (uppercase i), and l (lowercase L) to avoid confusion.

Can I continue a grind session?

No, each grind starts fresh. For long grinds, consider running multiple parallel sessions with different output directories.