Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn • Hacker News Board

Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn

#101

Post by tomtomtom777 » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 8:22 PM UTC

red_admiral wrote: post #95

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…

Curious to know because I've never looked into this stuff: doesn't the _public_ key have to be available anyway so you can send the coins to the address in the first place and have that recorded on the ledger?

A wallet address (where money is sent to) is the public key hashed. This money can than be spent with a transaction containing both the signature and the public key.

This is one of the reasons it is advised never to reuse an address. After using it once, your private key may still be private but your public key is exposed, reducing security.

Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn

#102

Post by jncfhnb » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 8:22 PM UTC

odyssey7 wrote: post #61

What category of taxable income would this be in the US?

Losses due to theft

Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn

#103

Post by aeonik » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 8:22 PM UTC

red_admiral wrote: post #95

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…

Curious to know because I've never looked into this stuff: doesn't the _public_ key have to be available anyway so you can send the coins to the address in the first place and have that recorded on the ledger?

Once you have the private key, you would submit a transaction with that private key and authorize a transaction to a public key that you control, and doesn't have part of the private key available.

You don't need the public key, and IIRC most algorithms allow you to derive the public key from the private key, though I'm not sure that's the case with Bitcoin. I have vague memories that there are algorithms where this is not that case, but it's been a while.

Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn

#104

Post by kolinko » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 8:25 PM UTC

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

Kraken would cause no problems for 2.5-2.7

Taxing this is super simple, you just mark as "other" - akin to finding money on the ground.

Arguing with bank - which specific bank would cause problems here?

Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn

#105

Post by kneel » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 8:25 PM UTC

arcanemachiner wrote: post #90

Looks like the coins were stolen by a bot: > https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1306983.msg64535839#... I'm not super familiar with the concept (and I'm too lazy to look into it TBH), but I think the would-be winner posted the private key before enough (any?) blocks were mined, and the thief posted a transaction with a bigger fee, and the thief's transaction was in the block that got mined.

That's not how bitcoin works

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

#106

Post by thundergolfer » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 8:26 PM UTC

We had fraudsters using modal.com compute to solve this challenge. It's not traditional mining software so it didn't initially get flagged, but we've updated our detection to catch it now[1].

1. https://modal.com/blog/catching-cryptominers

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

#107

Post by xboxnolifes » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 8:34 PM UTC

TrackerFF wrote: post #93

FileSorter wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the most profoundly dumb comments I have read here. It takes 3 seconds to look up the 24h volume for BTC and it is $9.6 Billion

Might sound dumb, but there are still places in the world where having $400k worth of BTC != $400k in the bank. Plenty of banks will freeze your bank account instantly. And good luck convincing them that you stumbled upon $400k by solving a puzzle - only takes one suspicious fraud/risk manager to conclude that there’s a higher chance of fraud than legitimacy. (But you are right, no problem to find someone to pay you…

You don't need to sell it all at once.

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

#108

Post by red_admiral » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 8:35 PM UTC

aeonik wrote: post #103

red_admiral wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious to know because I've never looked into this stuff: doesn't the _public_ key have to be available anyway so you can send the coins to the address in the first place and have that recorded on the ledger?

Once you have the private key, you would submit a transaction with that private key and authorize a transaction to a public key that you control, and doesn't have part of the private key available. You don't need the public key, and IIRC most algorithms allow you to derive the public key from the private key, though I'm not sure that's the case with Bitcoin. I have vague memories that there are algorithms where this…

It's some kind of EC/DSA scheme, isn't it? Then from the private key you can indeed get the public key.

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

#109

Post by red_admiral » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 8:36 PM UTC

tomtomtom777 wrote: post #101

red_admiral wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious to know because I've never looked into this stuff: doesn't the _public_ key have to be available anyway so you can send the coins to the address in the first place and have that recorded on the ledger?

A wallet address (where money is sent to) is the public key hashed . This money can than be spent with a transaction containing both the signature and the public key. This is one of the reasons it is advised never to reuse an address. After using it once, your private key may still be private but your public key is exposed, reducing security.

Thanks. The "hashed" part is what I was missing.

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

#110

Post by fecal_henge » Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 8:45 PM UTC

Byxxi wrote: post #78

throwawaymaths wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Depends if they are wintering inside or in the hot tub.