Discovering Lost Bitcoin Addresses: A Fresh Approach

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cobra_2015Full Member
Posts: 259 · Reputation: 728
#1Nov 8, 2024, 07:46 AM
Here's a little theory for you. Bitcoin addresses that use Base58 (like "1PnVcifB9EBwbaAauprqcucPgfUnrRLtWg") come from a random 256-bit value. Some folks might mention seed phrases, but those are just condensed versions of the 256-bit number. Basically, you take a random 256-bit number, turn it into a 64-bit one, which then becomes a private key, and from that private key, a public key is created through hashing. There are loads of people trying to randomly generate numbers to create private and public keys, hoping to hit the jackpot and find a wallet that’s already out there and has some funds. It sounds like a great idea, but the number of potential combinations is way beyond the number of atoms in the universe. I remember reading an article on a forum where a guy calculated how much energy it would take to generate just one number, and the amount needed for all combinations was mind-blowing. He figured you'd need the energy of a sun that's a hundred times more powerful than ours for an entire year just for that. That kinda puts things in perspective. Even with a super advanced quantum computer, you’d still need the energy of millions of suns to check all the combinations. Of course, there’s always the chance that luck might strike. Anything could happen. But there's another overlooked problem. Even if you have software that can spit out a million addresses every minute, it’s pretty much worthless. Generating addresses is one thing, but checking if they have any balance is a whole different ball game. Right now, there's no method, even a paid one, to check millions of addresses for balances.
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paul2017Senior Member
Posts: 218 · Reputation: 1426
#2Nov 8, 2024, 01:56 PM
I don't want to discourage you, but you are not the first to believe that addresses can be cracked by some ad hoc method. First, there are a number of errors in your explanation. FTFY Neural networks have existed and been in use for a long time, so the fact that you are just now learning about neural nets at the same time as coins are being stolen is purely coincidence and your discovery is mostly a result of cognitive bias. I bet you found those addresses by setting all but the last few bytes to the value 0. Those addresses are well-known and will always have a balance of 0. If you set the bytes to any other values, I doubt you will ever find another address. Brute force cracking of addresses by setting the values of portions of the private keys is not a viable method for finding addresses. While it's possible that neural nets may one day discover an extremely complex pattern of association between addresses and private keys, it is very unlikely, and so it is probably not a viable approach. OTOH, go for it!
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hash_bossLegendary
Posts: 1166 · Reputation: 5261
#3Nov 8, 2024, 02:22 PM
You're being kind here. But from my biased perspective, it's just another AI-generated text while asking donation like this thread, https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5508689.0. It's weird you chose SQLite over Bloom Index, which frequently used on cracking software.
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cipher42Full Member
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#4Nov 8, 2024, 04:08 PM
It is hopeless, zero-chance for success because you are searching an atom in the universe.
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LuckyCoinLegendary
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#5Nov 8, 2024, 09:53 PM
A neural network works primarily as an "agent" in that it has a directed graph, and with each node in the graph has an associated cost with it, and the agent's job is to minimize the path using different search methods and heuristics like back-tracking and things like that. If you try to make a graph for the paths to all private keys, you will need even more storage than just storing all of the private keys by themselves in a file. Which is already prohibitive.
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sage_moonSenior Member
Posts: 273 · Reputation: 1371
#6Nov 8, 2024, 10:02 PM
Let's avoid fostering myths, 256 bits is an extremely large number but it is smaller than the estimated number of atoms in the visible universe which is approximately 1000 times larger.
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