I lack knowledge pls guide me - page 2.

KingsDen

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Quote from: o_e_l_e_o on February 15, 2022, 10:20:55 AM

In short, to answer OP's original question: Yes, it is theoretically possible for your wallet to generate an already used address, but our sun will have engulfed the Earth long before that ever happens.

I was once curious about Op's question. Though OP wasn't clear to me until I read your reply.
Before I visited the technical aspect of OP question, I was ordinary consoled by the fact that the address is alphanumeric, which will make it impossible to coicide.
But later I learnt that the strength of secp256k1 is about 2^128, and it's proven that anything higher than 2^90 is very much secured.

But I also ask if the blockchain doesn't have an algorithm to immediately detect an attempt of duplicate upon generating a coincidental address. Maybe this will be needful when the Sun must have engulfed the Earth according to o_e_l_e_o.

Findingnemo

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Quote from: o_e_l_e_o on February 15, 2022, 10:20:55 AM

Quote from: Findingnemo on February 15, 2022, 09:53:36 AM

It will take atleast 100 years with fastest computer on the earth to predict the same word what is already created

You are out by a few dozen orders of magnitude. If you were to build a computer which could churn out 1 trillion seed phrases a second, then you are looking at somewhere around 10 billion billion years to exhaust an 128 bit search space. Increase that to 256 bits, and the numbers become comical.

In short, to answer OP's original question: Yes, it is theoretically possible for your wallet to generate an already used address, but our sun will have engulfed the Earth long before that ever happens.

Really, few billion years? I didn't know the exact calculation I just remind that it will take atleast 100+ years to brute force written by someone from bitcointalk in the technical discussion thread and now its more interesting. Shocked

o_e_l_e_o

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Quote from: Findingnemo on February 15, 2022, 09:53:36 AM

It will take atleast 100 years with fastest computer on the earth to predict the same word what is already created

You are out by a few dozen orders of magnitude. If you were to build a computer which could churn out 1 trillion seed phrases a second, then you are looking at somewhere around 10 billion billion years to exhaust an 128 bit search space. Increase that to 256 bits, and the numbers become comical.

In short, to answer OP's original question: Yes, it is theoretically possible for your wallet to generate an already used address, but our sun will have engulfed the Earth long before that ever happens.

Findingnemo

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Quote from: Cuda911 on February 14, 2022, 04:41:57 PM

Don't turn me into a laughing stock I'm just trying to understand what I don't know, since many more people keep coming into crypto space day by day is there any chances of getting your Bitcoin or ETH wallet compromised when newbies generates new address? It is possible that a bitcoin wallet can generate a wallet that's been in use by another user?

It will take atleast 100 years with fastest computer on the earth to predict the same word what is already created which means it is close to impossible, also we never heard any story about someone randomly created recovery seeds of an existing bitcoin address so you are safe and no need to worry.

The Cryptovator

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I am assuming OP talking about generating duplicate addresses and private keys. Till now I didn't hear about this issue and it wouldn't happen. Otherwise, the whole system will be broken and no one will use cryptocurrency anyway. Securing your wallet from attack is a different thing. It's your responsibility to keep safe. But the algorithm will never create the same wallet address or private keys. From this side you are safe. Just need to use an open-source non-custodial wallet. Otherwise, a hardware wallet is preferable.

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Quote from: Cuda911 on February 14, 2022, 04:41:57 PM

Don't turn me into a laughing stock I'm just trying to understand what I don't know, since many more people keep coming into crypto space day by day is there any chances of getting your Bitcoin or ETH wallet compromised when newbies generates new address? It is possible that a bitcoin wallet can generate a wallet that's been in use by another user?

I don't see any chances that other people like me can generate BTC or ETH addresses with you as this has different codes or seeds phrases every time we generate addresses. Perhaps, you can try it on your own in order to see it. of course, don't ever try using exchanges wallet as might happens especially when you are using scam exchanges. But as long as you are using Electrum and MEW wallet, that certainly impossible base on my experience and I don't see that someone had similar address to mine.

Pmalek

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Quote from: Charles-Tim on February 14, 2022, 05:32:18 PM

The 12 words seed phrase is gotten from 128 bits of entropy with 4 bit checksum making it 132 bits, or like on Electrum in which the 12 words seed phrase are gotten from 132 bits of entropy, this is enough to provide a seed phrase that is secure and safe enough.

Nothing wrong with your explanation, but we don't want to scare someone coming into Bitcoin with too much technical jargon that will make them change their mind. Seed phrases, entropy, checksums... might be overwhelming to OP.

@Cuda911
Address collisions are possible, but they are so rare that it's not worth worrying about. The most important thing is that you use a popular wallet that's been around for years and has been tested thoroughly. Open-source and non-custodial is the way to go. Non-custodial means that only you have access to the keys that allow you to spend your coins. Not the software, its developers, or some other 3rd party. Open-source means that its codebase is publicly available and verifiable. Even if you don't have the skills to inspect the code yourself, it's reassuring that others can and have done it.

I would be more concerned about getting struck by lightning 3 times during the same day. On a sunny day. Once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once before I go to bed. This ridiculous comparison is meant to show how unlikely both of these scenarios are.

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Quote from: Cuda911 on February 14, 2022, 04:41:57 PM

Don't turn me into a laughing stock I'm just trying to understand what I don't know, since many more people keep coming into crypto space day by day is there any chances of getting your Bitcoin or ETH wallet compromised when newbies generates new address? It is possible that a bitcoin wallet can generate a wallet that's been in use by another user?

There is no such thing as a stupid question, besides, on this forum, it is considered impolite to laugh at newcomers (unless they are trolls who mock or make laugh at other users).

As for your question: it all depends on the wallet you are using. If you use a "normal" wallet that generates keys randomly through a good cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator, you don't need to worry about the uniqueness and safety of your keys. Of course, it is theoretically possible for some user to generate exactly the same private key or seed as yours, but it is practically infeasible given that it is a number with 256 digits and the range is as big as the number of atoms in the universe. On the other hand, if you use insecure wallets such as brain wallet which instead of using good RNG, takes whatever password you feed it and generate keys from it. The chances that two users will choose the same password and generate the same keys are very high, so it is extremely unsafe to use such wallets.

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Quote from: Cuda911 on February 14, 2022, 04:41:57 PM

Don't turn me into a laughing stock I'm just trying to understand what I don't know, since many more people keep coming into crypto space day by day is there any chances of getting your Bitcoin or ETH wallet compromised when newbies generates new address? It is possible that a bitcoin wallet can generate a wallet that's been in use by another user?

Not really the one youll generated is new and your the first user to be able to use that. If there is some instances like that probably it will be a big issue herr on fourm but I think its 0 case. Cause if thats to happen then there is literally a big problem in the network. Your crypto will be compromised if you engage on connecting it to some phishing site or has been hacked by entering on malicious site.

Maus0728

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Quote from: Cuda911 on February 14, 2022, 04:41:57 PM

is there any chances of getting your Bitcoin or ETH wallet compromised when newbies generates new address? It is possible that a bitcoin wallet can generate a wallet that's been in use by another user?

I think what you are referring to is something called "bitcoin address collision"

I don't know much about the technicalities but from what I have understood, you have produced a new bitcoin address that is equal from an existing funded bitcoin address that is hashed from an existing public key. And, based on what I've read, it's theoretically possible, but the chances of getting the same address are extremely slim to the point that it requires extremely powerful computing machine to create it...

I know it may not be accurate but I think that's the gist behind bitcoin address collision.

Quote

Since Bitcoin addresses are basically random numbers, it is possible, although extremely unlikely, for two people to independently generate the same address. This is called a collision. If this happens, then both the original owner of the address and the colliding owner could spend money sent to that address. It would not be possible for the colliding person to spend the original owner's entire wallet (or vice versa).

But because the space of possible addresses is so astronomically large it is more likely that the Earth is destroyed in the next 5 seconds, than that a collision occur in the next millenium.

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tranthidung

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Not your keys, not your coins: https://notyourkeys.org/. What does it mean? It means that if you use a wallet (custodial) with which you don't own private key of that address, you don't actually own your coins. Consequently, there is risk that you will lose your coin anytime in case that wallet is compromised by whatever reasons.
Recommended wallets. Choose a good non-custodial wallet to use. Electrum is not the best but good to start with.
How to lose your Bitcoins with CTRL-C CTRL-V. It still is not enough. You still can lose your coins by malwares so make sure you keep your devices clean and make careful checks when processing transactions
Get more in [GUIDES] on Bitcointalk. Index thread (until there is a dedicated subforum?)
Crypto Security - Additional Protection For Your Seed/Private Keys.
[Guide] Secure air-gapped crypto wallet storage method
[GUIDE] How to Create a Strong/Secure Password

BitMaxz

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The security of your wallet is actually dependent in you on how you protect your wallet. If you are looking for a high secured wallet the best recommendation is to use a Hardware wallet.

Generating a new address won't compromise anything except if your device or PC is already infected.

Never heard if there is someone who generates a wallet that has already been used by someone but if you are using Electrum wallet it should be unique.

Coyster

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Quote from: Cuda911 on February 14, 2022, 04:41:57 PM

is there any chances of getting your Bitcoin or ETH wallet compromised when newbies generates new address?

Of course, there are many ways in which your wallet can be compromised, but in summary that will only happen if you don't pay particular attention to security protocols on the network, protocols such as keeping your seed phrase/private keys to yourself alone, choosing the best possible wallet, taking everything that looks too good to be true as a scam, etc. If you don't want your wallet to get compromised, then you can beef up your security by going for a hardware wallet, which you can purchase for around $50, less or slightly higher, depending on the one you go for. Even if you don't go for a hardware wallet, make sure you use a non-custodial wallet because if it's not your keys, then it prolly isn't your coins anyway.

Quote from: Cuda911 on February 14, 2022, 04:41:57 PM

It is possible that a bitcoin wallet can generate a wallet that's been in use by another user?

No. Whenever you 'create a new seed', it's unique to just you the creator, though if you lose your seed phrase to someone else they can always import your funds into another wallet using your seed phrase and spend it (in the same way you can as well), cause mind you that Bitcoins aren't actually stored in wallets, but on the 'network'.

Charles-Tim

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The 12 words seed phrase is gotten from 128 bits of entropy with 4 bit checksum making it 132 bits, or like on Electrum in which the 12 words seed phrase are gotten from 132 bits of entropy, this is enough to provide a seed phrase that is secure and safe enough. What can make you lose your coins is through wallet hack or careless offline backup. If you protect your seed phrase backup, making use of offline wallet and securing your online activities and maintain safety, you will be fine.

But, additionally, you can an add extra word also know as passphrase or extended word in which different keys and addresses will be generated entirely from the same seed phrase. In this regard, even if your seed phrase backup is known to someone, the person can not spend you coins because he does not know your passphrase that made the seed phrase to generate different keys entirely.

But note that your passphrase is needed along your seed phrase for wallet recovery, else, you will not be able to recover your wallet and this will lead to loss of your coin.

Cuda911

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Don't turn me into a laughing stock I'm just trying to understand what I don't know, since many more people keep coming into crypto space day by day is there any chances of getting your Bitcoin or ETH wallet compromised when newbies generates new address? It is possible that a bitcoin wallet can generate a wallet that's been in use by another user?

Topic: I lack knowledge pls guide me - page 2. (Read 444 times)