is the money safe?

[spyvingen]

Im thinking if you have an asic or similar wouldn't it be possible to generate an address with public key see if there is any money on the address and if not generate new one and see if there is money on that one.

Or are used addresses excluded somehow when generating a new or something because if you have asic i guess you could go through a couple of thousand addresses in a second and soon enough you will find an address that has money?

Even if you have an offline wallet the money is in the network the only differences is that the one who created it has not broadcast it on internet.

So my question is how does the bitcoin network prevent these things. Or do they rely on statistics like the chance of finding an address is so small we don't have to do anything about it?

Please correct me in this matter so i feel safe with my coins

//Jonas

[FaradayC]

You could search the blockchain to see if there is money in an address... But you've totally skipped over getting access to the money.  Just because you have a public (or even a private) key, doesn't in anyway mean you now have access to someone's coins, that's just not how it works...

[nocoin]

It's more profitable to generate NEW coins, than bruteforcing keys trying to sleal OLD one. Even with asics.

[AzureEngineer]

What you're talking about is called an address collision, and yes, it is entirely possible for someone to generate one of your addresses and be able to access the money held to it. However, I don't think you quite understand the chances of that happening. There are 2^256 addresses available. That is not a small number.


If you used your Bitcoin client to generate addresses at hundreds of times per second, it would take millions of years for you to generate someone else's non-zero address. i.e. you have a better chance of being struck by three bolts of lightning and simultaneously winning the lottery than someone does of generating your address.

[spyvingen]

Hehe i crunched the numbers of adresses i its like 77 figures

But could someone by misstake generate it? I guess its kinda a lot of adresses generated daily.

[superresistant]

it would take millions of years for you to generate someone else's non-zero address. i.e. you have a better chance of being struck by three bolts of lightning and simultaneously winning the lottery than someone does of generating your address.

Made me laugh.

[FaradayC]

You say by mistake, it's all probability.  The answer is yes, they could generate your address, they would not have access to your coins though.  Also, even by accident it's three bolts, the lottery and being the first human with super powers...

[DannyHamilton]

Just because you have a . . . private . . . key, doesn't in anyway mean you now have access to someone's coins, that's just not how it works...

You are mistaken.  That is exactly how it works.

[spyvingen]

Ok so i could be pretty safe after all then.

The answer is yes, they could generate your address, they would not have access to your coins though.

Why could thay not get access to the coins if they have generated my adrees and private key?
I guess you cant generate diffrent private keys to a single adress and if there is only one correct private key thats the one that has access to the adress.
Correct me if im wrong here.

[DannyHamilton]

Ok so i could be pretty safe after all then.

The answer is yes, they could generate your address, they would not have access to your coins though.

Why could thay not get access to the coins if they have generated my adrees and private key?
I guess you cant generate diffrent private keys to a single adress and if there is only one correct private key thats the one that has access to the adress.
Correct me if im wrong here.

I don't know if anyone has proven it yet, but there are almost certainly multiple private keys that can access each bitcoin address.

There are a total of approximately 2²⁵⁶ (1.158 x 10⁷⁷) private keys, and only about 2¹⁶⁰ (1.462 x 10⁴⁸) potential bitcoin addresses. As far as I know, it is not even known if every potential bitcoin address has a valid private key.  If anyone gains access to any of the private keys that compute to the same bitcoin address, then they have access to all bitcoins at that address.

Note that 2¹⁶⁰ is still a VERY LARGE number, and as such, the odds of stumbling across a private key that matches a bitcoin address in use accidentally or intentionally are still astronomically huge. There are much more horrible things that are far more likely to happen that you never worry about.

[IHackedBitcoin]

Or are used addresses excluded somehow when generating a new or something because if you have asic i guess you could go through a couple of thousand addresses in a second and soon enough you will find an address that has money?

There is no ASIC doing RIPEMD160(SHA256(...)) efficiently out there. But you can use this method to hack addresses on GPUs.
The possibility to find ANY is high, the possibility to find exactly yours is around 1/1600000 times smaller. Stay relaxed. The chances are low you will loose your money.

[IHackedBitcoin]

There are a total of approximately 2256 (1.158 x 1077) private keys, and only about 2160 (1.462 x 1048) potential bitcoin addresses.

Actually NOT

There are 2^256 - 2^32 - 2^9 - 2^8 - 2^7 - 2^6 - 2^4 - 1 private keys and also A LOT FEWER than 2^160 bitcoin addresses.

[Gabi]

Possible? Yes. But it will take more than the universe life. Good luck.

[bitcoinbitcoin27]

"If we express 2^160 in proper scientific notation it’s about 1.46e+48. That’s still way too big for most people to comprehend, even folks who understand the scientific notation. It’s estimated, for example, that there are 10^21 grains of sand on the entire planet, which is about the biggest “everyday” comparison number I could come up with but you’d need 1.46e+27 Earths worth of sand to have a number of sand grains equal to the number of Bitcoin addresses. In other words, if every grain of sand were actually its own entire planet just like Earth with its own 10^21 grains of sand, you’d still come up short. 1.46e+27 is a really big number!" - http://codinginmysleep.com/stealing-bitcoins-the-hardest-way/

[DannyHamilton]

- snip -
you can use this method to hack addresses on GPUs.
The possibility to find ANY is high,
- snip -

There are a total of approximately 2256 (1.158 x 1077) private keys, and only about 2160 (1.462 x 1048) potential bitcoin addresses.

Actually NOT

There are 2^256 - 2^32 - 2^9 - 2^8 - 2^7 - 2^6 - 2^4 - 1 private keys and also A LOT FEWER than 2^160 bitcoin addresses.

^^ TROLL ^^

Proof:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=204424.0

[Scott_Stark]

It's nice discussion about money saving, and also really nice above comments, which about money saving, i also want to say something about it. Money saving is really good idea, because, if you keep save your money then,  you can use this money when you really need to use, no doubt there are many way's for saving your money but i think banks are one of the best place for save your money ...
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[machinegunate]

Swing and a miss...

[malhoni]

Made me laugh.

[Koekienmonster]

Made me laugh.

[Dasneko]

What keeps your bitcoins secure is not the address they are sent to but your secret "private key".
How secure is that? Well since its not bound to your identity like lets say a bank account its security lies in being "hidden". That said since its not bound to your identity someone cant pose to be you and gain access to your account. In essence its one of the most secure systems on this planet.