[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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