Regarding trying to break one of the unsolved puzzles, why would you want to brute-force RIPEMD-160?

A public address, like one of the loaded puzzle addresses, is basically (neglecting network byte and checksum) HASH160(public key) which is RIPEMD-160(SHA-256(public key)). If you aim is to get to an unknown public key and you reverse RIPEMD-160(32-byte input) you land on a possible collision, one of 2⁹⁶, where you even don't know if you found the correct one. Your found collision is a SHA-256() hash.

Now you have to reverse this SHA-256(x02|x03+32bytes) and because you don't know if the compressed public key starts with x02 or x03, your search space is basically of magnitude 2²⁵⁷. Good luck with that, when our solar system or rather a larger part of our galaxy doesn't have enough energy to even brute-force RIPEMD-160() let alone SHA-256().

I would strongly suggest to use (or train) human brain 1.0 before wasting time with such stupid cracking paths. Such posts are complete nonsense and frankly an insult to intellect.


Oh no, the quantum computer will solve it all bs again... not that I've been waiting for it.


If you didn't notice the difference between e.g. #66, more specifically non-multiples of 5, and puzzles that are multiples of 5, you're a lost case and you're wasting everybody else's time here. Hint: it was something to do with the public key.


The level of insanity in this thread is really concerning.