Potential attack vector in generating Bitcoin addresses?

[netrin]

To run Firstbits, you need a complete copy of the block chain. Most nodes will not have a full copy in the future, so you'd have to rely on a central service.

The miners as always would require the entire block chain to discover the public key corresponding to the 'first bits' but the sender does not. The sender only signs a transaction to an address, he does not verify that the receiving address is valid nor that anyone has the corresponding private key.

Firstbits seems broken right now:

Firstbits.com happens to also be a web service by the same name. But the concept is decentralized. It is a deterministic FACT derived from the chronological appearance of addresses in the block chain.

[1715253108]

1715253108

[1715253108]

1715253108

[FreeMoney]

To run Firstbits, you need a complete copy of the block chain. Most nodes will not have a full copy in the future, so you'd have to rely on a central service.

It's the same as Bitcoin in that sense. You don't have to have the chain to use Bitcoin or FirstBits, but you can, and that's what will keep the data providers honest.