Go

Go is widely used in Bitcoin infrastructure — especially for alternative node implementations, Lightning nodes (LND), and backend services. Its simplicity, strong concurrency model, and fast compilation make it well-suited for network services.

btcd / btcutil

btcd is an alternative full node implementation written in Go. Even if you don't run btcd, its libraries are excellent for building Bitcoin applications.

go get github.com/btcsuite/btcd
go get github.com/btcsuite/btcutil

Generate a Key Pair and Address

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "github.com/btcsuite/btcd/btcec/v2"
    "github.com/btcsuite/btcd/btcutil"
    "github.com/btcsuite/btcd/chaincfg"
)

func main() {
    // Generate a new private key
    privKey, err := btcec.NewPrivateKey()
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    // Get the public key
    pubKey := privKey.PubKey()

    // Create a P2WPKH address (native SegWit)
    witnessProg := btcutil.Hash160(pubKey.SerializeCompressed())
    address, err := btcutil.NewAddressWitnessPubKeyHash(
        witnessProg, &chaincfg.RegressionNetParams,
    )
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    fmt.Printf("Address: %s\n", address.EncodeAddress())

    // WIF-encode the private key
    wif, _ := btcutil.NewWIF(privKey, &chaincfg.RegressionNetParams, true)
    fmt.Printf("WIF: %s\n", wif.String())
}

Connect to Bitcoin Core via RPC

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "github.com/btcsuite/btcd/rpcclient"
)

func main() {
    // Connect to bitcoind
    connCfg := &rpcclient.ConnConfig{
        Host:         "localhost:18443",
        User:         "rpcuser",
        Pass:         "rpcpassword",
        HTTPPostMode: true,
        DisableTLS:   true,
    }

    client, err := rpcclient.New(connCfg, nil)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    defer client.Shutdown()

    // Get blockchain info
    info, err := client.GetBlockChainInfo()
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    fmt.Printf("Chain: %s, Blocks: %d\n", info.Chain, info.Blocks)

    // Get best block hash
    hash, _ := client.GetBestBlockHash()
    fmt.Printf("Best block: %s\n", hash.String())
}

LND (Lightning Network Daemon)

LND is the most popular Lightning Network implementation, written in Go. It exposes a gRPC API for building Lightning-powered applications:

// LND gRPC client example
import "github.com/lightningnetwork/lnd/lnrpc"

// Create an invoice
invoice, err := client.AddInvoice(ctx, &lnrpc.Invoice{
    Value: 1000, // satoshis
    Memo:  "Test payment",
})

// Pay an invoice
payment, err := client.SendPaymentSync(ctx, &lnrpc.SendRequest{
    PaymentRequest: "lnbc...",
})

Go Bitcoin Ecosystem

Package	Purpose
btcd	Full node implementation
btcutil	Address encoding, WIF, amounts
btcec	Elliptic curve operations (secp256k1)
btcwallet	Full wallet implementation
rpcclient	Bitcoin Core RPC client
lnd	Lightning Network node
neutrino	Light client (BIP-157/158)

Recommended Reading

• btcd GitHub
• LND Developer Guide
• Building on LND