Quote from: Steveia on December 14, 2013, 01:19:58 PM

Quote from: Voodah on December 14, 2013, 11:10:13 AM

Quote from: Steveia on December 13, 2013, 09:44:22 PM

As for algorithms, some are from government employees, but most are from private mathematicians.

"SHA-2 is a set of cryptographic hash functions (SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512) designed by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and published in 2001 by the NIST as a U.S. Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS)."

Thanks, but I think we are referring to two different things. You are referring to the algorithm which Bitcoin is based on, which indeed is the product of the NSA. I was referring to algorithms in general (and ciphers), which are usually, though far from always, the product of the private sector.

Quote

[...] the algorithim that bitcoin is encrypted in [...]

No confusion here. You just misspoke. This is the line you were answering to. Unless of course you were talking about a random algorithm in your mind or any other algorithm that has nothing to do with the discussion in hand.......