to put simply every single transaction in every single bitcoin block contains the public key inside them. there are lots of cases of address reuse even by the big services (eg. bitfinex cold storage has thousands of coins in it and is being reused), if it were possible to steal bitcoin by knowing just the public key all these funds would have been stolen already.
it is about how Elliptic Curve Cryptography[1] works. the process of getting the public key from private key is easy but the reverse is impossible. in other words it is a "one way function".
p.s. in order to prove you have bitcoin you don't have to send anything. you can sign a message[2] but the message has to be unique and have timestamp.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptic-curve_cryptography
[2] https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/how-to-sign-a-message-990345
Topic: How to steal BTC just with public key. - page 2. (Read 370 times)
Can the BTCitcoins of a wallet be stolen just with the public key?
Example: I have 50 BTC in my wallet, any person very far from me asks for I sell them 50 BTC and they say me they need a POF (Prove of founds), so they ask for I send a small amount of btc, (can be 10,000 satoshis) for they check the wallet in blockchain and make sure I have the enough amount to sell.
I ask this because I have heard a wallet can be cleared just to have the public key and with to have sent satoshis previously.
Please let me to know and if is possible, technical examples why can exists the possibility this happens. Or technically why this cannot happend.
Thank you!
Example: I have 50 BTC in my wallet, any person very far from me asks for I sell them 50 BTC and they say me they need a POF (Prove of founds), so they ask for I send a small amount of btc, (can be 10,000 satoshis) for they check the wallet in blockchain and make sure I have the enough amount to sell.
I ask this because I have heard a wallet can be cleared just to have the public key and with to have sent satoshis previously.
Please let me to know and if is possible, technical examples why can exists the possibility this happens. Or technically why this cannot happend.
Thank you!
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