What is RIPEMD-160?

RIPEMD-160 is a 160-bit cryptographic hash function developed in Belgium in 1996. It was designed as a stronger alternative to MD5 and SHA-1. RIPEMD-160 produces a 40-character hexadecimal output. It is used in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for address generation (combined with SHA-256). While not as common as SHA-256, RIPEMD-160 remains unbroken and is part of the OpenPGP standard. Consider SHA-256 for general-purpose hashing unless compatibility requires RIPEMD-160.