Quote from: DannyHamilton on June 20, 2017, 07:29:05 AM

Quote from: Bluengold341 on June 20, 2017, 03:22:44 AM

how come btc addresses are more at risk?

Nonsense.

Bitcoin addresses are public. Every bitcoin address that has ever been used to receive bitcoins cal ALL be found in the public blockchain. There is nothing hidden or encrypted about a bitcoin address.

Perhaps you are asking about calculating a private key that is associated with a bitcoin address? In that case, it is effectively impossible as long as the private key is generated from a random enough source. Therefore, your question would still be nonsense.

Perhaps you are asking about STEALING a private key that is associated with a bitcoin address? In that case, it's important to recognize 2 things.

First, that it is extremely difficult to steal a properly secured private key.

Second, that there is a very big financial incentive to steal a private key, so LOTS of people will try.

Email passwords are stolen all the time, but if your email password is stolen, then someone can read your email or pretend to be you and send email from your account. There is some benefit to the thief, but gaining a significant financial benefit from an email address is complicated.

Bank passwords are stolen all the time, but if your bank password is stolen then the bank can cancel or reverse most transactions as long as they are discovered soon enough. There is some benefit to the thief, but gaining a significant financial benefit from an bank passord is complicated. Since bank transfers are centralized and easily traceable, there is significant risk for the thief attempting to acquire access to the funds.

Bitcoins are valuable, it is nearly impossible to cancel or reverse a properly formed transaction once it has been sent, and since the network is decentralized it is very difficult to determine who has access to the bitcoins one they are taken.

The combination of large financial incentive and irreversible transaction draws a lot of thieves to try to steal private keys or trick/scam people into sending their bitcoins.

That is a good in depth explanation why stealing a private key is extremely difficult, but not impossible if you the user make errors. In order to avoid errors education is key. I think you should start from the official website of bitcoin here "https://bitcoin.org/en/secure-your-wallet"