Quote from: DannyHamilton on April 25, 2015, 07:41:47 PM

Quote from: sdmathis on April 25, 2015, 07:29:39 PM

Once when I first started getting into crypto, I accidentally sent sone altcoins to the wrong address and of course, that was that. The coins were gone.

That made me wonder if the following scenario is possible: Could someone create a brand new Bitcoin address and find Bitcoin sitting in his wallet if someone accidentally sent coins to that address a year or so ago? Or will coins only show up if someone sends them to the wrong address and that address already exists.

I was just curious.

If you were lucky enough to generate the address that had the bitcoins, then yes you would find bitcoins just sitting in the wallet.

However:

Quote from: molecular on November 03, 2012, 07:45:18 PM

Ok, new data, will recalc everything:

probability of getting struck by lightning in any given year: 1/280000.
probability of taking a shit at any given point in time: 1/(60*24) = 1/1440 (assuming you take a crap every day and the actual process takes 1 minute)
probability of getting struck by lightning while taking a crap in any given year: 1/(280000*1440) = 1/1.47E11 = 2.48E-9
probability of taking a crap while being in a situation where being struck by lightning can actually occur = 1/1440 = 0.25 = 1.74E-4
probability of finding a collision: 1E-65
getting hit by lightning while taking a crap for how many years in a row is equally probable as finding a collision: log(1E-65) / log(1.74E-4) = 17.3

is my math roughly correct now?

If so, I can say: "Finding a collision is about as likely as being struck by lightning while taking a crap every year for 17 years in a row".

For any reasonable understanding of the word "possible", it is not possible to find bitcoins in a truly random newly created address.

Now, if you can figure out some non-random system that someone else used to create a bitcoin address, then you could generate the same address and gain access to their bitcoins. Of course, that would be theft, and you're not a thief, are you?

Quote from: sdmathis on April 25, 2015, 07:38:27 PM

What I mean is it theoretically possible, or is there something in the code that prevents it.

No, the only thing that prevents it is the EXTREME odds against it happening.

I never thought of that. Generating the same address as someone else. Is that theoretically possible? Or is there a mechanism in place to ensure that never happens?

I know that the odds make it almost impossible.