Quote
Here's a solution that actually makes sense:
"Satoshi" has 59 machines mining. To make sure that none of them accidentally repeated work, each one was given a different machine_id to put in the LSB: 0,1,2,3...58. Machines 10 through 18 broke down and he didn't bother to recycle the LSBs.
current_nonce = machine_id
while True:
result = hash(block, current_none)
if result < target:
break
current_nonce += 256
Ta-da! Solution. It makes sense that you'd put the machine_id in the LSB and not the MSB because it's easier to detect that you've wrapped around: Just check for current_nonce == machine_id. Otherwise you'd have to test for current_nonce >> 56 != machine_id, which is marginally slower.
"Satoshi" has 59 machines mining. To make sure that none of them accidentally repeated work, each one was given a different machine_id to put in the LSB: 0,1,2,3...58. Machines 10 through 18 broke down and he didn't bother to recycle the LSBs.
current_nonce = machine_id
while True:
result = hash(block, current_none)
if result < target:
break
current_nonce += 256
Ta-da! Solution. It makes sense that you'd put the machine_id in the LSB and not the MSB because it's easier to detect that you've wrapped around: Just check for current_nonce == machine_id. Otherwise you'd have to test for current_nonce >> 56 != machine_id, which is marginally slower.
The probability of 10/59 machines being broken and having consecutive numbers is 1.6*10^-10
Besides the question why Satoshis nonces have a weird distribution, it would also be interesting to see if this 'fingerprint' can be used to look for other blocks or transactions done using that same PC, it could give us a clue to his identity. 