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Topic: Why not crack addresses instead of finding nonces? (Read 1253 times)

lbr
sr. member
Activity: 423
Merit: 254
legendary
Activity: 1596
Merit: 1012
Democracy is vulnerable to a 51% attack.
Apparently i still don't understand mining.  Isn't mining finding the nonce for the next block and that nonce is dependent on the previous block?  So as soon as there is a new block, nonce searching has to start all over?
The search space for a valid block is effectively infinite, so you have no "progress" to lose.

More newbie questions... Does everyone have the same transactions?  Why do we have different merkle roots if we have the same transactions?
I wish everyone had the coinbase transaction that pays to my account like I do. But other people insist on sending the mining rewards to their accounts. Also, miners include some randomized information in the coinbase transaction that acts like an extra nonce. Everyone has basically the same transactions (not including the mining reward transaction) but pool operators and solo miners can pick and choose which transactions to include.

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As a miner how do I get transactions?  How often will I get more transactions?
People who want their transactions mined into blocks broadcast them over the Bitcoin network. You'll get a constant stream of transactions as they're created.

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Do I have to recompute the merkle root each time I get a new transaction and then restart the nonce?  This sounds like a job for Sisyphus.
No, you don't have to. You might want to if the transaction fee is significant. You'll have to compute a new merkle root when you run out of nonces to try anyway, so you might as well include any new transactions with non-zero fees if there's room.
newbie
Activity: 14
Merit: 0
It isn't just the nonce that increments to find a valid hash, you constantly hash the block header completely. The block header contains other data such as version, hash of previous block header, merkle root, time and bits. Your merkle root hash will be different to everyone else. This means no-one else is hashing the same data.

More newbie questions... Does everyone have the same transactions?  Why do we have different merkle roots if we have the same transactions?

As a miner how do I get transactions?  How often will I get more transactions?  Do I have to recompute the merkle root each time I get a new transaction and then restart the nonce?  This sounds like a job for Sisyphus.
legendary
Activity: 1554
Merit: 1002
The search for nonces changes every 10 minutes.  An address with a lot of coin might be in cold storage and you might be able to search for months uninterrupted and your reward might be very high.
It's about 3,513,612,269,993,879,528,303,320,959,297,632,275,254,396,583,673,016,120,886,766 times harder to crack an address than to find a nonce that mines a block. Given that mining a block yields 25 bitcoins and cracking an address yields at most 21,000,000 that means that even if you crack the address that holds every single bitcoin that will ever exist, it's still 4,182,871,749,992,713,724,170,620,189,640,038,422,921,900,694,848,828,715 times worse than finding a nonce.


i think you missed the 5 Grin
legendary
Activity: 1652
Merit: 1016
It isn't just the nonce that increments to find a valid hash, you constantly hash the block header completely. The block header contains other data such as version, hash of previous block header, merkle root, time and bits. Your merkle root hash will be different to everyone else. This means no-one else is hashing the same data.
legendary
Activity: 1400
Merit: 1005
It is Start Over in the sense that the billions of nonces that didn't work for one block might work for the next block, you may as well retry all the nonces that failed.
Yes, the nonce starts at 1 again.
newbie
Activity: 14
Merit: 0
It is Start Over in the sense that the billions of nonces that didn't work for one block might work for the next block, you may as well retry all the nonces that failed.
legendary
Activity: 1148
Merit: 1008
If you want to walk on water, get out of the boat
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So as soon as there is a new block, nonce searching has to start all over?
Yup, but there is no "start over" in the sense that you work toward something, to find a nonce you just try tons of hashes, one of them can be the right one, and you can try billions of hashes per second.
full member
Activity: 218
Merit: 100
Apparently i still don't understand mining.  Isn't mining finding the nonce for the next block and that nonce is dependent on the previous block?  So as soon as there is a new block, nonce searching has to start all over?
Here is a great resource about mining on WeUseCoins.com
Make sure to click on the "More" next to the Technical Background
legendary
Activity: 1400
Merit: 1005
The search for nonces changes every 10 minutes.  An address with a lot of coin might be in cold storage and you might be able to search for months uninterrupted and your reward might be very high.
It's about 3,513,612,269,993,879,528,303,320,959,297,632,275,254,396,583,673,016,120,886,766 times harder to crack an address than to find a nonce that mines a block. Given that mining a block yields 25 bitcoins and cracking an address yields at most 21,000,000 that means that even if you crack the address that holds every single bitcoin that will ever exist, it's still 4,182,871,749,992,713,724,170,620,189,640,038,422,921,900,694,848,828,715 times worse than finding a nonce.

Joelkatz,  thank you very much for exactly th answer I was looking for.  I am not into stealing but I am into understanding why this will entire bitsphere will work.

Apparently i still don't understand mining.  Isn't mining finding the nonce for the next block and that nonce is dependent on the previous block?  So as soon as there is a new block, nonce searching has to start all over?
Yes, it "starts over" after each block.  But you have just as much chance at finding a block with the first nonce that you search as you do with the last nonce.
newbie
Activity: 14
Merit: 0
The search for nonces changes every 10 minutes.  An address with a lot of coin might be in cold storage and you might be able to search for months uninterrupted and your reward might be very high.
It's about 3,513,612,269,993,879,528,303,320,959,297,632,275,254,396,583,673,016,120,886,766 times harder to crack an address than to find a nonce that mines a block. Given that mining a block yields 25 bitcoins and cracking an address yields at most 21,000,000 that means that even if you crack the address that holds every single bitcoin that will ever exist, it's still 4,182,871,749,992,713,724,170,620,189,640,038,422,921,900,694,848,828,715 times worse than finding a nonce.

Joelkatz,  thank you very much for exactly th answer I was looking for.  I am not into stealing but I am into understanding why this will entire bitsphere will work.

Apparently i still don't understand mining.  Isn't mining finding the nonce for the next block and that nonce is dependent on the previous block?  So as soon as there is a new block, nonce searching has to start all over?
legendary
Activity: 1596
Merit: 1012
Democracy is vulnerable to a 51% attack.

Your calculator does not work very well.
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Crack != try to broke private key.
Crack = get money that private key "owns".

Yeah, my numbers are off by a factor of 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,336. Finding another key with the same hash is sufficient. (Third time I've made that mistake.)
member
Activity: 84
Merit: 10
The search for nonces changes every 10 minutes.  An address with a lot of coin might be in cold storage and you might be able to search for months uninterrupted and your reward might be very high.
It's about 3,513,612,269,993,879,528,303,320,959,297,632,275,254,396,583,673,016,120,886,766 times harder to crack an address than to find a nonce that mines a block. Given that mining a block yields 25 bitcoins and cracking an address yields at most 21,000,000 that means that even if you crack the address that holds every single bitcoin that will ever exist, it's still 4,182,871,749,992,713,724,170,620,189,640,038,422,921,900,694,848,828,715 times worse than finding a nonce.
Ok, what calculator do you use for those huge numbers that doesn't auto-convert to scientific notation?
bc
http://www.gnu.org/software/bc/

<3 bc
full member
Activity: 206
Merit: 102
step forward

Your calculator does not work very well.
Quote
Crack != try to broke private key.
Crack = get money that private key "owns".


legendary
Activity: 1596
Merit: 1012
Democracy is vulnerable to a 51% attack.
The search for nonces changes every 10 minutes.  An address with a lot of coin might be in cold storage and you might be able to search for months uninterrupted and your reward might be very high.
It's about 3,513,612,269,993,879,528,303,320,959,297,632,275,254,396,583,673,016,120,886,766 times harder to crack an address than to find a nonce that mines a block. Given that mining a block yields 25 bitcoins and cracking an address yields at most 21,000,000 that means that even if you crack the address that holds every single bitcoin that will ever exist, it's still 4,182,871,749,992,713,724,170,620,189,640,038,422,921,900,694,848,828,715 times worse than finding a nonce.
Ok, what calculator do you use for those huge numbers that doesn't auto-convert to scientific notation?
bc
http://www.gnu.org/software/bc/
legendary
Activity: 1022
Merit: 1001
I'd fight Gandhi.
The search for nonces changes every 10 minutes.  An address with a lot of coin might be in cold storage and you might be able to search for months uninterrupted and your reward might be very high.
It's about 3,513,612,269,993,879,528,303,320,959,297,632,275,254,396,583,673,016,120,886,766 times harder to crack an address than to find a nonce that mines a block. Given that mining a block yields 25 bitcoins and cracking an address yields at most 21,000,000 that means that even if you crack the address that holds every single bitcoin that will ever exist, it's still 4,182,871,749,992,713,724,170,620,189,640,038,422,921,900,694,848,828,715 times worse than finding a nonce.
Cool Smiley
legendary
Activity: 1400
Merit: 1005
The search for nonces changes every 10 minutes.  An address with a lot of coin might be in cold storage and you might be able to search for months uninterrupted and your reward might be very high.
It's about 3,513,612,269,993,879,528,303,320,959,297,632,275,254,396,583,673,016,120,886,766 times harder to crack an address than to find a nonce that mines a block. Given that mining a block yields 25 bitcoins and cracking an address yields at most 21,000,000 that means that even if you crack the address that holds every single bitcoin that will ever exist, it's still 4,182,871,749,992,713,724,170,620,189,640,038,422,921,900,694,848,828,715 times worse than finding a nonce.
Ok, what calculator do you use for those huge numbers that doesn't auto-convert to scientific notation?
legendary
Activity: 1596
Merit: 1012
Democracy is vulnerable to a 51% attack.
The search for nonces changes every 10 minutes.  An address with a lot of coin might be in cold storage and you might be able to search for months uninterrupted and your reward might be very high.
It's about 3,513,612,269,993,879,528,303,320,959,297,632,275,254,396,583,673,016,120,886,766 times harder to crack an address than to find a nonce that mines a block. Given that mining a block yields 25 bitcoins and cracking an address yields at most 21,000,000 that means that even if you crack the address that holds every single bitcoin that will ever exist, it's still 4,182,871,749,992,713,724,170,620,189,640,038,422,921,900,694,848,828,715 times worse than finding a nonce.
legendary
Activity: 1400
Merit: 1005
It would take 100 billion years, constantly using all the power of the sun, for you to even have a remote chance at stumbling upon ONE address that has already been created before.  Never mind whether that address has anything in it.
full member
Activity: 187
Merit: 100
Yes, do it!
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