Quote from: no-ice-please on March 31, 2015, 03:48:37 AM

Quote from: AgentofCoin on March 31, 2015, 02:24:30 AM

There is no formula or progression that exists.
If it did, then current known cryptographic systems used by world intelligence agencies would be rendered worthless.
It is not possible to do what you propose since calculating all addresses from private keys would also take thousands of years and millions of dollars.
You need to do more reading on how Bitcoin's cryptographic system is implemented and functions.

The whole basis of 'cracking' a code is finding a pattern.

When a code involves a small number of samples it can be hard to crack.

But bitcoin not only involves a large number, a very large number, it also lets a person easily generate an almost unlimited number of points to test.

Code breaking computers exist whose only purpose is to run vast numbers of tests on data samples looking for a pattern. In the case of bitcoin, all that would be needed would be the tiniest correlation between the position of low numbered private keys and their addresses.

If you took the first 1 million bitcoin addresses, generated from the lowest 1 million private keys, and you were able to find any difference whatsoever with the last million addresses, generated from the highest 1 million private keys, it would be the end of bitcoin using the current key/address system. Is there any such difference? There certainly is.

I was not talking about cracking "all possible addresses". i was talking about using a very selective tactic to solve one bitcoin address at a time by gradually narrowing the range of potential private keys it might have come from. It is the opposite of brute force and once it could be shown workable for one address it would be useful for any address. The question is not whether it is possible. It is. It is only a matter of finding a pattern.

Quote from: cramved on March 31, 2015, 03:30:11 AM

Brute forcing a private key would be incredibly difficult considering that a password that is 10-15 digits is considered secure a private key would be beyond the computing capabilities of today. But in the future with large amounts of power it could be possible.

You are ignoring what I said. I have no interest in brute forcing keys.

Quote from: hhanh00 on March 31, 2015, 03:37:08 AM

Quote

That does make brute forcing near impossible, but it also makes a more sophisticated attack much easier.

Easier? Why? Just because people don't know about the iron door doesn't make it less sturdy.

Easier because you have literally trillions of trillions of possible data sets to test.

To my knowledge it hasn't been done.

On rare occasion, when something has never been
done before, an innovator steps up and opens a new door.

However, most times, there are reasons why things
that intuitively seem easy that no one (or few people)
can do, are actually difficult.

Many times those reasons aren't discovered until you
actually try for yourself.

So, try it.

Try to find a pattern.

Maybe you will come back
later and tell us you found
a pattern...or more likely
that you haven't and why not.