My question is in regards to how many wallets there are or ever will be. How is it that certain wallets get names like : ( 1PaYbTcJsAp3QqcQ8FaBxofwdhB1KP4xug ) that's a vanity. Again dont send there I wont send back.
i have never actually looked at Vanity generators source codes but i believe this is the method they use since there is no other way due to the
randomness of the results.
you choose a number between 1 and 115792089237316195423570985008687907852837564279074904382605163141518161494337 and then use a one way math equation to find a point (x and y coordinate) on a curve. then compute hash of that point using SHA256 then compute the hash of that result using RIPEMD160. then encode it using Base-58.
let's say you chose this number:
371060653216966910279746506141000858658682621300828557694559221585249237607
the address is:
153Z7LAFwAPpinqdAh6n6xSKkBNRr6k1Vd
now you can increment it until you find a "collision" that creates an address starting with "1P"
that requires
53 additions:
371060653216966910279746506141000858658682621300828557694559221585249237660
1PPGS2QKDaiaEY3ZitpjyY2Nm4mRPSifYa
lets say you want it to start with "1Pa" now you have to increment it
383 times
371060653216966910279746506141000858658682621300828557694559221585249237990
1Paf7nhoK1hTc6Z3MWRzVcGB4rGiQYNrLN
if you want "1PaY" then the same thing, i ran it for more than 6100 times without any result so i had to stop the code (not to waste time) but you can see how the number is growing from 53 to 383 to 6100+
I understand there are vanity addresses such as ( 1BitcoinEaterAddressDontSendf59kuE ).
that is
NOT vanity address. that is a base58 encoded string nothing more.
you can create anything you like in a blinking of an eye. just put any kind of string after 1 without 0OIl chars (that would be BitcoinEaterAddressDontSend) and compute its checksum (that would be f59kuE). now you have a weird address
without private key