Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn
261–270 of 428 posts
Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn
#262Earlier quoted context omitted.
the problem of finding discrete logarithms is the same problem as breaking elliptic curve cryptography.
Technically, while the two problems share the same name, the one on elliptic curves is matematically different from the one over finite fields modulo a prime number.
Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
Private mempool transaction
I’m a relatively smart person, probably above average, but glad bitcoin hasn’t taken over banking because I don’t understand any of this.
Look up MEV
Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn
#264Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 breakin…
Except they don't need to take it now, just before anyone else does.
Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn
#265Earlier 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.
That, or it is a trap to catch time travelers. :)
Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is another useful example to have handy against the canard: "You're only skeptical of cryptocurrencies/blockchain because you haven't learned enough about how they work." I believe the correlation is the other way around... at least once you get past some early local maxima near "people who don't understand how money can be in a computer." P.S.: To digress (rant) a bit: The linchpin is whether your system needs…
This attack wouldn't have worked in a mining free, fee-less cryptocurrency with sub-second confirmation times (ie, block lattice). The only reason we're still talking about BTC is bag-holders. It's vastly technologically inferior on every metric. Talking about BTC's failures as if they exemplify cryptocurrency is just like attacking solar panels on the basis of whale oil's flaws.
Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn
#267Earlier quoted context omitted.
So exponential increase in difficulty, linear increase in reward. Unless the price goes exponential too! (Which was the case for a while)
My take on this [0] is that Bitcoin price was growing exponentially with demand, or more exactly with the expected future demand. Cryptocurrency always have had a lot of speculation behind them, not unlike any startup, and that is OK. As shown by the graph [0], adoption slowed down after 2016 when BTC blocks got consistently full and transaction fees rose to $50 and more. I believe if BTC had scaled to support more t…
Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn
#268Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Or whoever created the puzzles leaking their information. Or getting hacked. This is super common among people who are known to have high value wallets. Between physical attacks and zero days in everyday software, there's no chance to stay safe when you put that kind of target on your back.
> there's no chance to stay safe when you put that kind of target on your back. Vitalik Buterin seems to be a counter example here, his net worth peaked around $1.46 billion. He has some interesting writing on how he stays secure. At one point the SHIBA token sent a huge amount of funds to his cold wallet and he details what he did to securely access those funds: https://decrypt.co/91000/ethereum-founder-vitalik-bute…
Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
If the real puzzle solver didn't see this coming, he kinda does deserve it. Bitcoin blocks takes 10-20 minutes to confirm. This leaves enough time for a bot/human to take over. I am pretty sure he could have contacted a miner/pool and arranged a deal with them.
How could a bot/human steal the funds without knowing the private key? Edit: typo
Fascinating that the original cracker wouldn't know these details about Bitcoin transactions.
Re: Bitcoin puzzle #66 was solved: 6.6 BTC (~$400k) withdrawn
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
that it's relatively self aware, in particular about energy consumption concerns, is mildly intriguing i think
What's wrong with energy consumption? I think you might be confusing it with greenhouse gas emissions.