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Author Topic: Destroying bitcoin, by coin, by coin...  (Read 15664 times)
SgtSpike
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July 06, 2011, 09:02:01 PM
 #41

Bitcoin addresses do not get "reserved" when they are generated, it is just astronomically unlikely to generate one that has been used before. In theory, you could keep generating new addresses until you hit one that has coins in it, but as SgtSpike said this would be much more difficult than finding valid blocks.

Huh... So, technically, it is possible to get into any ones wallet like that? That's fun)
Technically, yes.  Reality, no.

I think someone mentioned in another thread that the possibility of finding a previously used address with running the calculations on a 5870 was equal to the possibility of a person winning the lottery 100 days in a row.  Basically, it will NEVER happen.
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enmaku
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July 06, 2011, 09:04:39 PM
 #42

Bitcoin addresses do not get "reserved" when they are generated, it is just astronomically unlikely to generate one that has been used before. In theory, you could keep generating new addresses until you hit one that has coins in it, but as SgtSpike said this would be much more difficult than finding valid blocks.

Huh... So, technically, it is possible to get into any ones wallet like that? That's fun)

It's also technically possible for me to call your bank, guess your account number, guess your social security or other credentials, guess the right answer(s) to the security question(s) they ask, etc.

Guessing your keypair/address is no different. It can be done, it's just so astronomically unlikely that you'll guess correctly that even at GPU speeds you'll be guessing for longer than the coins are likely to stay in that wallet (read: longer than I, and several generations of my descendants am/are likely to live).
noob_jul11
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July 06, 2011, 09:15:36 PM
 #43

I would love the experience of destroying bitcoins. Do me a favor, send me all your bitcoins and I will help you destroy them. Address at the bottom ...
Stiletto
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July 06, 2011, 09:24:29 PM
 #44

Quote
Alfred Pennyworth: A long time ago, I was in Burma, my friends and I were working for the local government. They were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. So we went looking for the stones. But in six months, we never found anyone who traded with him. One day I saw a child playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine. The bandit had been throwing them away.
Bruce Wayne: Then why steal them?
Alfred Pennyworth: Because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

So you're just an anarchist that likes destroying what other people labor to create.

Pretty indicative of someone who has no skill or ability to create value on their own.
c00w
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July 06, 2011, 10:53:42 PM
 #45

Sounds like a great idea!

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July 06, 2011, 11:10:18 PM
 #46

...how easily they can be destroyed. It litterally takes us no more than a minute every week...

I am shocked... at the fact that it takes a minute to delete a file, lol.

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Kanti
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July 06, 2011, 11:18:58 PM
 #47

The 20 seconds or so it takes to bootup my PC drives me nuts.  No way in hell I'd sit around for a minute to destroy something that has no meaning to me.  This guy is obviously either trolling, or a poor worker with too much time on his hands (that his company is paying for).    I must admit, it would be pretty funny to see this guy explain his way out of crap if/when he gets caught utilizing massive co. resources for personal use (profit or not, the company would still be pissed). 

Then again, the guy could be like me and have the skill-set to smooth talk his way out of anything, but it's more fun to contemplate his demise over something so trivial. 
Rob P.
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July 06, 2011, 11:29:56 PM
 #48


1)  You cannot destroy Bitcoins, you can only lose them (and they CAN be found, albeit with difficulty)


Uhh... Could you please give some info about finding lost bitcoins?

Sure.  Whenever your bitcoin client creates a new address, it randomly creates a public/private keypair of one of the 2^160 possible addresses. 
If (and it's a HUGE if, with a VERY low probability, but it's not ZERO) you create a public/private keypair that someone else has already created, you'll have access to the coins in that address in the block chain.

Elsewhere in the forum someone was working on a program that would generate approximately 80,000 bitcoin addresses per second. 

At that rate you can create 80,000 * 31536000 (seconds/year) = 2,522,880,000,000 (2.5 Trillion) addresses a year.
However, you'd have to run that for 5.7929891129617856×10^35 years, to exhaust all of the address space. 

And of course, you'd have to have a client that could handle that many addresses, which I doubt the default client can do.  So, you'd have to come up with a way to check them all in the block chain to see if they are valid, which would slow down your rate.

It's a big number.  So, the odds of two people colliding with the same address are astronomically tiny.

You'd be better off using vanity ID creation code to try to create a specific address, at least then if/when you found it, you'd know it.

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Einewton
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July 06, 2011, 11:33:34 PM
 #49

Send me the BitCoin and i'll destroy it for you.. LOL!

-= Got BitCoin? =-
Nicolai Larsen
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July 07, 2011, 12:38:01 AM
 #50

12 rigs = 750 Mhash/s?

Ain't that pretty sucky?

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Jaime Frontero
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July 07, 2011, 01:22:39 AM
 #51

what a bunch of hogwash.

Quote
It litterally takes us no more than a minute every week. Delete the wallet.dat and create a fresh one and another 5 coins or so are gone forever

you don't get 5BTC/week with 700 Mh/sec.

and:

Miner is running on 12 PC's at the moment, total hashing power close to 700 Mhash.

there isn't a "medium sized insurance company" on earth, european or otherwise, that has desktops capable of 58 Mh/sec (700/12).  they all have integrated video on the motherboard, and it's doubtful any business-class desktop will generate 10 Mh/sec.  i've got a quad-core Athlon that gets 10.  an average business-class machine will probably get about five-seven.

it might have been slightly believable if the business was claimed to be an animation studio or something.  but an insurance office?

bullshit.
noob_jul11
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July 07, 2011, 08:50:59 PM
 #52

When will someone send me some bitcoins so I can experience the joy of destroy them?
nighteyes
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July 07, 2011, 10:02:11 PM
 #53

The OP can apparently short-sell the bitcoin and put his money where his mouth is.
SimplePanda
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July 07, 2011, 10:49:12 PM
 #54

You should try burning Euros. That's fun too.

+1.
Sp3rm
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July 07, 2011, 11:51:53 PM
 #55

I still don't understand the math.
If there are 10 pies and 8 are lost, why would you divide the 2 remaining pies?
Why would only pie holder #1 get to keep his pie and pie holder #2 has to give his up.

By the way. Which insurance company do you work for?
SgtSpike
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July 07, 2011, 11:53:26 PM
 #56

I still don't understand the math.
If there are 10 pies and 8 are lost, why would you divide the 2 remaining pies?
Why would only pie holder #1 get to keep his pie and pie holder #2 has to give his up.

By the way. Which insurance company do you work for?
Neither has to give up his pies.  What are you talking about?
Raoul Duke
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July 08, 2011, 12:04:42 AM
 #57

By the way. Which insurance company do you work for?

He doesn't work for an insurance company. And here's why:

Insurance companies are very keen to keep their expenses very low, so, even those 12 computers mining 24/7 would raise their electricity bill so much that they would look very well to find out where it was being spent. Only 1 month of mining would be enough for the OP and his "partner" to be already working for "social security"(unemployed), not for an insurance company  Roll Eyes
Sp3rm
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July 08, 2011, 12:11:41 AM
 #58

I still don't understand the math.
If there are 10 pies and 8 are lost, why would you divide the 2 remaining pies?
Why would only pie holder #1 get to keep his pie and pie holder #2 has to give his up.

By the way. Which insurance company do you work for?
Neither has to give up his pies.  What are you talking about?

That simply divides the bitcoins up into smaller portions. Every bitcoin that is lost, is gone for good and simply reduces the amount of bitcoins there will ever be.

If you make all other BTC worth more and they are divided up into smaller pieces, the net result is no change long-term. You're not hurting anything. You're only helping us out in the short-term.

Ok. Have 10 people and 10 pies. We give everyone a pie.
Now 8 pies get lost. Some get eaten, one pie was encrypted and the key got lost, another one's fridge was hacked and his pie deleted, a pie was dropped on the floor, etc etc.

We divide  every remaining pie into 10 pieces. One guy didn't lose his pie, he gets to keep all 10 pieces. The other 10 pieces are divided evenly over the other 9 people and piece gets destroyed by me, just cos I can. And pie makes me fat.
We have 10 times as many "items of pie". We performed a digit shift on the pie basically... Yet now one guy has half of all items of pie available, while he only had 1/10 earlier.
Still think shifting the digit will solve bitcoins getting lost? Wink

So one guy gets to keep his pie. Why? Insurance? Why would the other guy only get 1/10th of his pie? No Insurance?
Sp3rm
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July 08, 2011, 12:17:17 AM
 #59

By the way. Which insurance company do you work for?

He doesn't work for an insurance company. And here's why:

Insurance companies are very keen to keep their expenses very low, so, even those 12 computers mining 24/7 would raise their electricity bill so much that they would look very well to find out where it was being spent. Only 1 month of mining would be enough for the OP and his "partner" to be already working for "social security"(unemployed), not for an insurance company  Roll Eyes

You're not helping to liven up the discussion by being sensible.
Raoul Duke
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July 08, 2011, 12:24:22 AM
 #60

By the way. Which insurance company do you work for?

He doesn't work for an insurance company. And here's why:

Insurance companies are very keen to keep their expenses very low, so, even those 12 computers mining 24/7 would raise their electricity bill so much that they would look very well to find out where it was being spent. Only 1 month of mining would be enough for the OP and his "partner" to be already working for "social security"(unemployed), not for an insurance company  Roll Eyes

You're not helping to liven up the discussion by being sensible.


Sorry for ruining the fun for the rest of you Cheesy
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