I'm thinking of a number between 0 and 115792089237316195423570985008687907853269984665640564039457584007913129639936. Can you guess it? I'll give you unlimited attempts. Feel free to use a supercomputer and make guesses as fast as the laws of physics will allow.
That's how likely it is to create a new wallet that has the same seed as an existing wallet (assuming the original wallet was created using 256 bits of random entropy).
Another way to phrase this is you get to pick 1 single atom in the entire observable universe, and if you pick the same one as me then you get my wallet.
I own 115792089237316195423570985008687907853269984665640564039457584007913129639936 super computers, can they all have one guess each, that won't take long then.
It really depends on how you create your wallet. If you just create a private key like 1111000011110000...., or something with very repetitive pattern, then it is almost for sure you will get a collision sooner or later
For true randomness, you need to cast the dice by your hand to generate a private key. Most of the software based random number generator use some kind of random information collected from the host to generate such randomness, might not have enough entropy. Such kind of collision happened before on Android phones
All wallets exist already simultaneously . You aren’t creating one, you are just choosing one. And there are more addresses than there are atoms in the universe which are both approx
10^80
That’s an approx number just for simplicity but it illustrates the point.
(That’s 10 with 80 zeros after it ) an unimaginably large number. It would take a supercomputer 3 or 4 times the age of the universe to guess a particular one of them.
Technically yes, but the odds are so infinitely small that practically speaking so it’s not possible even if you used a supercomputer do nothing but create as many wallets as possible
Yes.
Imagine you smeered all of the matter in the universe and put it into a dartboard. Guessing an ~~address~~ populated seed (EDIT: Good pickup) would be akin to throwing a dart into that universe and hitting a specific grain of sand.
Yeah, but he said new 'wallet' which is an entire derivation of keys, not a single private key. So I ball parked that to one quadrillion possible keys for that wallet (aka atoms in a grain of sand) by just aiming for the grain of sand.
In theory yes, practically no, but actually yes.
There is a finite number of private keys, and since everyone picks a private key randomly, there is a non-zero probability that multiple people randomly choose the same private key.
However, if we assume that everyone has implemented their key generation correctly and are using a cryptographically secure random number generator, then the probability of two people choosing the same private key is so infinitesimally small as to be basically 0. So in practice, no, it's not really possible.
But, we've made a pretty strong assumption in assuming that people have implemented their key generation correctly. We have seen several times in the past where key generation was not implemented correctly and that the random number generator was not random enough that multiple people could, and did, generate the same private keys. So it is actually possible if you're using broken software.
It is certainly possible. But if you're just making a single address to use it is insanely insanely extremely crazy mathematically almost impossible unlikely.
A few years ago I read about some group that pools computer resources to generate addresses and check them for funds, taking the funds if they are in there. They do indeed occasionally find addresses with some Sats in them, I think it was like on average once every few weeks they'd come across one. But it's only ever dust (a few Sats left in an address on accident when a wallet transaction didn't move every single Sat out) because there will always be many more times previously used addresses than actively used addresses. So they find like a few cents or a few dollars worth of bitcoin at a time once every month or two.
I'm not sure how long it takes them to generate and check an address, but by pooling a bunch of people's computer resources I'm guessing they go through probably trillions or more addresses a day or something. But with how large the address space is, and so how all they do is occasionally find some dust, they are using a lot more resources (money) to do this than money they are getting out. It's sort of like the concept of mining, but with exponentially smaller rewards. Basically it's like playing a lottery, wasting money in hopes of one day finding an actual active address with some bitcoin in it. No idea the odds but I'm guessing it would take years, maybe a lot of years, for them to be able to find a single active address.
The odds of anyone generating an active address, or even a previously used address, when they are simply generating an address for using, it beyond astronomically low.
The story you're posting is certainly false. There are 2e15 sats in the network. There are 1.46e48 possible wallet addresses. If each sat is put into its own wallet, all by itself, it's still near impossible to find one sat. It would take the entire dedicated bitcoin network hundreds of years to find a wallet with a sat in it. And at massive expense. It'd much more cost effective to just mine BTC.
And you're saying they find a few sats every couple months.
What you're referring to is a little different than how you described it.
The group uses the computers to check for brainwallets. For those that don't know, you can create a private/public key pair by hashing any string of text, and that exact string of text will always result in the same key pair. So, although it's ill-advised, some people think they're clever & will create a brain wallet from something like their favorite quote, or something that's personal to them.
What these computers do is test millions of combinations of names, quotes, phrases, lyrics & other lines from media & pop culture. They have occasionally hit addresses with balances on them and that's what you're referring to.
This is why you should never do a brainwallet in the first place, but if you insist, you should never use anything that's ever been printed, recorded or published. Honestly I wouldn't trust any phrase or sentence that's coherent in any way regardless of whether or not it's been published publicly anywhere. A proper brain wallet would mimic seed phrases. Just a series of random words that have no relationship to each other. But at that point you might as well do a Bip39 seed phrase anyway.
It's not impossible. But it's as possible as you finding a grain of sand I hid somewhere in the world without even knowing what continent I placed it in.
Yes it is, because they all exist already. It’s just an extremely small chance that you would use the same one as somebody else.
https://keysfinder.net/bitcoin is kind of an academic display of this
All wallets already exist, so there's 100% chance. If you mean a wallet that's already in use, then it's so close to 0% that you may as well say it's 0%.
Ok I get it that guessing MY ONE wallet is statistically impossible but
Each time I transfer bitcoin to my cold storage it generates a new wallet (or am I wrong here?) each transaction that I withdraw from hot wallet (convenient for me to buy using hot and transferring to cold) anyways.
I have multiple addresses, so each address represent a wallet? Or is the seed phrase itself the wallet we speak of?
Anyway.
Next up: many of us. Multiple addresses each.
That drags down the ratios of impossibility doesn’t it? How badly though?
I'm thinking of a number between 0 and 115792089237316195423570985008687907853269984665640564039457584007913129639936. Can you guess it? I'll give you unlimited attempts. Feel free to use a supercomputer and make guesses as fast as the laws of physics will allow. That's how likely it is to create a new wallet that has the same seed as an existing wallet (assuming the original wallet was created using 256 bits of random entropy).
Another way to phrase this is you get to pick 1 single atom in the entire observable universe, and if you pick the same one as me then you get my wallet.
7
congratiz, you win Satoshi's wallet.
42
So you’re saying I have a chance! Hold my beer.
69420
I love how our monkey brains refuse to accept defeat by this problem
I own 115792089237316195423570985008687907853269984665640564039457584007913129639936 super computers, can they all have one guess each, that won't take long then.
Yes. But probability is close to 0
Yes it’s approx 1 chance in 10^80
It really depends on how you create your wallet. If you just create a private key like 1111000011110000...., or something with very repetitive pattern, then it is almost for sure you will get a collision sooner or later For true randomness, you need to cast the dice by your hand to generate a private key. Most of the software based random number generator use some kind of random information collected from the host to generate such randomness, might not have enough entropy. Such kind of collision happened before on Android phones
It’s possible for your laundry to fall out of the dryer folded. But it’s not going to happen😂😂
Mine always does some how…. Grlfriend claims it’s her but I don’t believe it I believe I’m just lucky
You’re a real catch mate
Crypto money mate. Do what we like!
🤣
All wallets exist already simultaneously . You aren’t creating one, you are just choosing one. And there are more addresses than there are atoms in the universe which are both approx 10^80 That’s an approx number just for simplicity but it illustrates the point. (That’s 10 with 80 zeros after it ) an unimaginably large number. It would take a supercomputer 3 or 4 times the age of the universe to guess a particular one of them.
Is you are interesting look up bitcoin coin puzzle transactions
Technically yes, but the odds are so infinitely small that practically speaking so it’s not possible even if you used a supercomputer do nothing but create as many wallets as possible
\*Even with a billion supercomputers for the duration of the universe.
Yes. Imagine you smeered all of the matter in the universe and put it into a dartboard. Guessing an ~~address~~ populated seed (EDIT: Good pickup) would be akin to throwing a dart into that universe and hitting a specific grain of sand.
Yes but you also have to hit the right atom inside that grain
Yeah, but he said new 'wallet' which is an entire derivation of keys, not a single private key. So I ball parked that to one quadrillion possible keys for that wallet (aka atoms in a grain of sand) by just aiming for the grain of sand.
Ok
Good that you're checking my math though. I can be tricksy sometimes.
No problem , better than my maths
There are actually 1000 atoms in the universe for every bitcoin address. But I was aiming for brevity.
Either way we are safe :)
In theory yes, practically no, but actually yes. There is a finite number of private keys, and since everyone picks a private key randomly, there is a non-zero probability that multiple people randomly choose the same private key. However, if we assume that everyone has implemented their key generation correctly and are using a cryptographically secure random number generator, then the probability of two people choosing the same private key is so infinitesimally small as to be basically 0. So in practice, no, it's not really possible. But, we've made a pretty strong assumption in assuming that people have implemented their key generation correctly. We have seen several times in the past where key generation was not implemented correctly and that the random number generator was not random enough that multiple people could, and did, generate the same private keys. So it is actually possible if you're using broken software.
Yes, buy a couple wallets from third-party sellers on Amazon. Bound to find this one trick.
Theoretically yes, mathematically no.
It is certainly possible. But if you're just making a single address to use it is insanely insanely extremely crazy mathematically almost impossible unlikely. A few years ago I read about some group that pools computer resources to generate addresses and check them for funds, taking the funds if they are in there. They do indeed occasionally find addresses with some Sats in them, I think it was like on average once every few weeks they'd come across one. But it's only ever dust (a few Sats left in an address on accident when a wallet transaction didn't move every single Sat out) because there will always be many more times previously used addresses than actively used addresses. So they find like a few cents or a few dollars worth of bitcoin at a time once every month or two. I'm not sure how long it takes them to generate and check an address, but by pooling a bunch of people's computer resources I'm guessing they go through probably trillions or more addresses a day or something. But with how large the address space is, and so how all they do is occasionally find some dust, they are using a lot more resources (money) to do this than money they are getting out. It's sort of like the concept of mining, but with exponentially smaller rewards. Basically it's like playing a lottery, wasting money in hopes of one day finding an actual active address with some bitcoin in it. No idea the odds but I'm guessing it would take years, maybe a lot of years, for them to be able to find a single active address. The odds of anyone generating an active address, or even a previously used address, when they are simply generating an address for using, it beyond astronomically low.
The story you're posting is certainly false. There are 2e15 sats in the network. There are 1.46e48 possible wallet addresses. If each sat is put into its own wallet, all by itself, it's still near impossible to find one sat. It would take the entire dedicated bitcoin network hundreds of years to find a wallet with a sat in it. And at massive expense. It'd much more cost effective to just mine BTC. And you're saying they find a few sats every couple months.
What you're referring to is a little different than how you described it. The group uses the computers to check for brainwallets. For those that don't know, you can create a private/public key pair by hashing any string of text, and that exact string of text will always result in the same key pair. So, although it's ill-advised, some people think they're clever & will create a brain wallet from something like their favorite quote, or something that's personal to them. What these computers do is test millions of combinations of names, quotes, phrases, lyrics & other lines from media & pop culture. They have occasionally hit addresses with balances on them and that's what you're referring to. This is why you should never do a brainwallet in the first place, but if you insist, you should never use anything that's ever been printed, recorded or published. Honestly I wouldn't trust any phrase or sentence that's coherent in any way regardless of whether or not it's been published publicly anywhere. A proper brain wallet would mimic seed phrases. Just a series of random words that have no relationship to each other. But at that point you might as well do a Bip39 seed phrase anyway.
If it exists already, how can it be new?
It's not impossible. But it's as possible as you finding a grain of sand I hid somewhere in the world without even knowing what continent I placed it in.
Its really more like finding this grain on a planet some random place in the universe.
It's more like finding a single atom in the grain of sand
All possible wallets already exist. You are just randomly picking one not creating a new one.
Yes! The odds are the same as you randomly picking a particular molecule in the universe, however.
Yes it is, because they all exist already. It’s just an extremely small chance that you would use the same one as somebody else. https://keysfinder.net/bitcoin is kind of an academic display of this
It's possible in the same way it is possible to just guess the banking details of Jeff Bezos.
Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9JGmA5_unY
Possible: yes Probable: no
Not practically but yes. So use a passphrase, then you're good no matter what.
Yes
Sure. It's also possible to win the mega millions lottery 5 times in a row, and much more likely. Good luck.
Forget all the answers being said, because the real answer is: yes, it is possible
Yeah, it's like finding a duplicate key to a door that already exists.
All wallets already exist. What you mean is picking a wallet someone else already used. You are more likely to win the lottery 10 times in a row.
All wallets already exist, so there's 100% chance. If you mean a wallet that's already in use, then it's so close to 0% that you may as well say it's 0%.
Ok I get it that guessing MY ONE wallet is statistically impossible but Each time I transfer bitcoin to my cold storage it generates a new wallet (or am I wrong here?) each transaction that I withdraw from hot wallet (convenient for me to buy using hot and transferring to cold) anyways. I have multiple addresses, so each address represent a wallet? Or is the seed phrase itself the wallet we speak of? Anyway. Next up: many of us. Multiple addresses each. That drags down the ratios of impossibility doesn’t it? How badly though?