Post
Topic
Board Bitcoin Technical Support
Re: What happens to Bitcoins that are sent to a non-existent address?
by
Shirik
on 03/09/2012, 17:49:15 UTC
Most that have been said is true...

DeathAndTaxes let me help you Smiley

Whenever you install a new bitcoind or generate a new wallet.dat you are generating out of random numbers a "secret key". With this "secret key" and more random numbers you can generate several "public keys", know as "addresses". With your secret key, you can "claim" your public keys as a proof those are yours.

This can happen complete offline, so the network doesnt know your "addresses" nor your "secret key". The second you solve a block and generate 50 BTC or you receive a transaction, your address will appear in the "chain" and therfor is public visible. As a result you can send BTC to "valid" addresses, but those addresses dont necessary need to exist. So it could happen, that you install a new bitcoind, generate an address and instantly have funds in your wallet, because someone else send some BTC to that address before it was actually existing.

An address is "valid" when its hash has a special value. So like already said, its nearly impossible that you can misstype an address and its still "valid".

Just to make it clear, "valid" and "existing" are not the same. Addresses can be valid and not exist (not yet generated) at the same time!
DeathAndTaxes wasn't trying to say "how do I prove to the network that address is mine?" but rather "how does the network know that there is a person in existence with a private key paired to that address?". That is, if I generated an address, and never said anything to the network, how could the network know that sending to that address is "more correct" than sending to an unowned but valid address?

The answer is "it can't".