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Hashing doesn't help you crack private keys. Bitcoin uses ECDSA to sign transactions, which means you need to be able to solve the discrete logarithm problem ov
by teraflop 14y ago
Hashing doesn't help you crack private keys. Bitcoin uses ECDSA to sign transactions, which means you need to be able to solve the discrete logarithm problem over an elliptic curve. In any case, even the combined computational resources of the entire planet probably aren't enough to break a 256-bit ECDSA key in a reasonable amount of time.
- antiscam 14y agoTrue, if by "break" you mean "break by brute force" (and of course with current, non-quantum computing technologies).
- oleganza 14y agoMost one-time pubkeys are wrapped in RIPEMD-160 and SHA256, so you have to crack those first before you even get to cracking ECDSA. This also offers temporary protection against sudden appearance of quantum computer. QC can break ECDSA, but cannot break hashes fast enough. So people would have time to switch to another algorithm or at least agree on the last valid blockchain state and stop all transactions.