Topic: HD wallet security, how it is secure? (Read 859 times)

I'm generally really bad at math. But my understanding is that, there is still 2048 possible words for each seed letter since there isn't any specific restrictions that the seed cannot be repeated.

Let's just say dillpicklechips's answer is correct. If you can generate 1 million keys per second, you can generate 1,000,000*60*60*24*365=3.1536e+13 per year. Dividing the possible keyspace by the amount of keys generated per year will yield 1.6715937e+26. So yeah. How many years is that?

@dillpicklechips
So actuall number of possible HD seeds/addresses is exactly
5271537971301488476000309317528177868800 with your formula 2048!/(2048-12)!
and Bitcoin addresses there are
90462569716653277674664832038037428010029347093027269048910283704311063667500
This is not THAT big number with HD comparing to bitcoin addresses this is significally almost 40% easier to crack am i right?

The computation is wrong. It is a permutation hence the formula will be n!/(n-r)!. So here it goes:

2048!/(2048-12)!
= 2048!/2036!
= 2048*2047*2046*2045*2044*2043*2042*2041*2040*2039*2038*2037
= 5.2715379713014884760003093175282e+39

Now that's a ridiculous number of possible set of numbers are there which you need to give the words in order. Hence it will take you forever to take it one by one.

So just imagine there are 12 seats and there are 2048 people considering there order (since it is some sort of password or code to unlock something). So in the first seat there will be 2048 people to possibly seat on it and to the second one there will be 2047 since the first one has settled in the first seat and so on.

Combination on the other hand is a way to count possibilities with no care for order or arrangement hence in math there is no such thing really as a combination lock but rather permutation lock (a joke that every math teacher would told to his students that actually has a point).

I just heard of this vanity address and done some research on how it works and I get it now. Though I don't really know any wallets that accepts vanity addresses but I use Mycelium which is a HD wallet but I think it doesn't accepts that. I'm not sure so maybe you want to check it out?

If a HD wallet seed has 12 words and there are 2048 possible words, the possibility would be 2048^12. That is a huge number if you actually multiply it out. It is impossible to try all the possibilities in a century with super computers. After that, it is also possible to generate keys in different languages. HD seeds are exteemely secure in the same way as private keys, there is far too many of them.
For Electrum, you cannot import an address into a existing HD wallet. You have to choose a standard wallet at the start and choose "I have an existing private key".

You can use it without swiping it. It gives you the choice of either swiping or just importing a private key and using it. I tested it and it works OK.

This is not the problem, you can import it, but electrum won't let u use it, it only let u swipe it to HD wallet :/

There are instructions explaining how to import private keys from multibit classic into the latest electrum at these links.

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.19463119

http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/faq.html#can-i-import-private-keys-from-other-bitcoin-clients

Although the latest electrum is HD by default it's still capable of importing private keys.

Hello,
1. I can't understand how HD wallets are secure. In BIP of HD wallet there are around 2000 words to choose from. Its not that many combinations to brute force. How its secure? How come noone checked them all already?
2. I love vanity addesses since years but lately i have more and more problem finding client, that  actually accepts vanity addresses (importing private key).
Now is HD wallet era, so what wallets i can  choose from except old ones like multibit classic and old electrum? What Vanity address friendly clients are there (software/mobile/online)?