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Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn

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Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn

#71

Post by wruza »

amelius wrote: post #34
whiterknight wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why?

Can't we come up with puzzles where at least something of value is created when the puzzle is solved (and a tremendous amount of resources is not wasted)?

Why should “we”? You can hear “we should/must” from all corners here but then remember it’s an US start-up’ers forum with people who plan morning meetings for email regexps.

Bitcoin may be an inefficiency, but is it the? Most everyday things modern first-world people do are equivalent to burning oil and shredding trees for little to no reason. You just can’t see it as clearly as in PoW crypto.

Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn

#72

Post by amelius »

fluoridation wrote: post #65
amelius wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't we come up with puzzles where at least something of value is created when the puzzle is solved (and a tremendous amount of resources is not wasted)?

That wouldn't be a puzzle, then. It would some kind of engineering challenge. A puzzle starts by knowing the answer and then putting some circuitous path between it and the player, that they have to figure out how to navigate. It's inherently wasteful to construct puzzles.

Unless the people solving the puzzles learn something valuable on the way.

Anyway, I don't agree that puzzles by definition have known answers, unless you want to nitpick and I just change my "puzzle" into "challenge".

Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn

#73

Post by aeternum »

ForHackernews wrote: post #7
mrb wrote: post #2

Discussion thread here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1306983.msg64526037#... Bitcoin puzzles are private keys with just a few unknown bits so that anyone can bruteforce them to collect a reward. Puzzle 66 contained 66 unknown bits and had 6.6 BTC deposited into it by the initial puzzle creator. The private key was 0x000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002832ed74f2b5e35ee or 256 bits with mostly ze…

Is this a "puzzle"? Throwing compute at brute-forcing a random number doesn't seem like solving a puzzle to me, it's basically how bitcoin works.

Optimization and efficiency are sometimes underappreciated puzzles. We know that the air contains nitrogen for example but without the wild efficiency of the Haber process, most of us would likely be dead right now.

Custom silicon and all kinds of related optimizations were likely used to successfully brute-force this number.

Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn

#74

Post by mapt »

Maken wrote: post #59
mapt wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am I correct in assuming that beyond a certain point, this is basically an existence proof for somebody having a quantum-supreme solution to Shor's Algorithm? "Here's $400,000 sitting on the table, hope nobody takes it" which triggers an alarm telling us to replace all our old prequantum cryptography.

If anyone developed a solution to integer factorization, I'm sure they would be after larger prices than mere 400k in crypto. A practical application of this puzzle could be to have an estimation of how long it takes to break a public key by conventional means. The moment one of these prices can be claimed in mere months you know it's time to double the size of the Bitcoin public keys.

If you want to prove that somebody has the ability to pick locks in order to protect your valuables, you leave the prize sitting on the kitchen table (at 66 bits of entropy) behind your relatively easy front door lock, not in a secure vault with triple redundant mechanisms. Somebody with the solution is going to be able to claim the money in far, far less computing time than they could claim a larger prize by breaking industry standard prequantum key sizes.

The $400,000 is an inducement for any participant in that engineering effort to break the conspiracy and take the bag. It's effective during the period between the time that a quantum Shor's solver has been achieved for a given algorithm in theory for 256 bits (and in practice for 66 bits), and the time that a practical solution at 256 bits has been implemented.

Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn

#75

Post by wruza »

commodoreboxer wrote: post #53
amelius wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't we come up with puzzles where at least something of value is created when the puzzle is solved (and a tremendous amount of resources is not wasted)?

We can and do, all the time. And all puzzles are a "waste of resources", really. I'm not into crypto and I do think Bitcoin is stupid and wasteful, but I don't find it "sick" or all what upsetting that this kind of puzzle exists, though I think some smart contract-based Ethereum puzzles could be much more interesting, demanding solutions to more interesting problems that don't directly relate to the blockchain itself…

Puzzles are training and intellectual entertainment, something you cannot have a web server without, cause sad nerds are unproductive.

Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn

#76

Post by School-Cotton »

CaptainOfCoit wrote: post #54
School-Cotton wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Create Coinbase account 2. Deposit bitcoin 3. Market order sell all 4. Withdraw USD

Step 2.5 Argue with Coinbase about if you're a legitimate owner or not Step 2.6 Coinbase blocks your account citing "Suspicious activity" Step 2.7 Sign up to three other exchanges, split the loot across them Step 5 Argue with the bank about the source of funds Step 6 Argue with tax agency that you'll fill out your taxes correctly

Even if this is true (and I suspect it's exaggerated), I'd be happy to go through this trivial amount of hassle for $400K.

Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn

#77

Post by amelius »

erulabs wrote: post #60
amelius wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't we come up with puzzles where at least something of value is created when the puzzle is solved (and a tremendous amount of resources is not wasted)?

The use of the word “we” is curious. You didn’t come up with the puzzle, you didn’t “waste” the resources. The purpose of the we is to appoint yourself judge and arbiter and to steal yourself into the in-group. Just post your judgement: you don’t like that someone else did something you don’t like with their resources .

That sounds like an ad-hominem attack to avoid the question, tbh.

Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn

#78

Post by Byxxi »

throwawaymaths wrote: post #52
Byxxi wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue that it's still a waste, because that energy could be put to an otherwise better use. Now that energy has to be replaced by a non-green counterpart since it's been spent.

What if you're using that energy in your hot tub, or to heat your house during the winter?

Are you arguing staying alive through winter as something less beneficial to bitcoin mining?

Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn

#79

Post by erulabs »

amelius wrote: post #77
erulabs wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The use of the word “we” is curious. You didn’t come up with the puzzle, you didn’t “waste” the resources. The purpose of the we is to appoint yourself judge and arbiter and to steal yourself into the in-group. Just post your judgement: you don’t like that someone else did something you don’t like with their resources .

That sounds like an ad-hominem attack to avoid the question, tbh.

At the risk of sounding snarky: It wasn’t. It does however, answer the question. “We” do not need to change our allocation strategy whatsoever because “we” didn’t allocate any resources towards this and “we” aren’t the arbiter of what others can or cannot do with their resources.

Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn

#80

Post by londons_explore »

adastra22 wrote: post #57
londons_explore wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

400k I think is no problem. I heard of someone with 10,000 BTC having some serious trouble finding a buyer though.

That’s 5% of the daily trade volume. Shouldn’t be an issue.

Except trade in bitcoin is fee-free and mostly regulation-free, so there is a lot of wash trading.
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