sorry, i just have to say. we are still hung up on this? jeez you guys. you link to some random comment i made that a minikey SEEMS LESS LIKELY, and that I was unaware of a vanitygen that comes STOCK with a minikey mining mode. for a bunch of pedantic nerds you are absolutely terrible at being pedantic. SEEMS LESS LIKELY is not even remotely the same as saying "impossible." obviously. clearly. self-evidently. and asking if there is anything that comes STOCK with such functionality is, again obviously, clearly, self-evidently a way of saying YES IT IS CLEARLY POSSIBLE. that is to say, put in a different way, CLEARLY I WAS NOT SAYING IT IS IMPOSSIBLE. put yet another way, if you were buying a car and you asked if it comes stock with a fat sound system, you would not be asking "do fat sound systems exist" or "is it possible for fat sound systems to exist anywhere in time and space," you would clearly be asking simply if it typically comes with it as-is. for even yet further clarification, i in fact am writing my own vanitygen as a fun little programming exercise, including minikey mining because why not. allow me to demonstrate how to do pedantry better:
ped·ant·ry /ˈped(ə)ntrē/ excessive concern with minor details
seem /sēm/ used to make a statement or description of one's thoughts, feelings, or actions less assertive or forceful.
like·ly /ˈlīklē/ such as well might happen or be true; probable.
stock /stäk/ of the common or ordinary type; in common use
and to top it off you then even link to you demonstrating a "PROOF" that it is possible... lol. i now await a full peer-reviewed mathematical proof on the matter. when can we expect it? which journal will it appear in?
LOL dude chill, my post had nothing to do with you. Like captainnoob said, I was merely mentioning that this research was done and that it cannot be ruled out (30char minikey resulting in public vanitized address). Key point of the post was to prove that there are MANY ways to look at the puzzle which the Authors likely did not consider. These points may very likely render the entire puzzle unsolvable.