[Cryptography] BitCoin as Quantum Cryptanalysis canary.
Peter Fairbrother
peter at tsto.co.uk
Mon Dec 21 08:17:21 EST 2020
On 20/12/2020 21:20, Whitfield Diffie wrote:
> Forgive my ignorance. What is the size of these keys?
Short answer, 256-bit ECDSA.
TL/DR:
There is a 256-bit public key and a 256-bit private key, both ECDSA. The
wallet address is a 160-bit hash of the public key.
The private key is usually derived from a passphrase, which can in
theory be any size. The passphrase -> key generation process depends on
the wallet software used.
There are also mini keys which are 30 x base52 characters (~171 bits),
which expand to a 256-bit ECDSA key by hashing part of the minikey.
Peter Fairbrother
>
> Whit
>
>
> On Sun, Dec 20, 2020 at 11:53 AM Peter Fairbrother <peter at tsto.co.uk
> <mailto:peter at tsto.co.uk>> wrote:
>
> Nah, though of course bitcoin is a big target for cryptanalysis.
>
> Satoshi is a very private approaching paranoid person, and initially he
> did not spend bitcoin because that would expose his identity.
>
> Most recently he hasn't spent any of the initial blocks because he
> doesn't want to see bitcoin's price and thus reputation crash (and he
> doesn't need the money).
>
> More, what the hell would he do with that much money? He sure couldn't
> spend it anonymously, and preserving his anonymity is paramount to him.
>
>
> I am of course guessing here, but I do not think the keys are lost - he
> may have deliberately deleted them, but I do not believe he lost them,
> that would be out of character.
>
>
>
> Peter Fairbrother
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