Bitcoins - digital currency - Page 229 - Business, Finances and Investing Forum

When people talk about bitcoin getting hacked, do they mean literally coming up with a formula to factor huge prime numbers or something and convert SHA256 public keys to private? Or to hack the bitcoin client app?

The latter is confusing, I'm not sure exactly how it'd work, and it would be the same I assume as just sticking trojans on someone's computer. But I don't know.. I am genuinely confused when people say "crack the encryption", they mean find a flaw in SHA256?

(related: I am reading this book on prime numbers and the story part is great but the math is confusing the hell out of me, and I certainly won't be the guy cracking anything haha: http://amzn.to/11ts5xc )

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04-19-2013 , 10:51 PM

#5702

DickFuld

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 4,113

Bitcoin as a whole is hackable (though the technology doesn't really exist today.) The client is completely separate and obviously this is a bit different but doesn't have a huge effect overall.

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04-20-2013 , 01:01 AM

#5703

Freakin

bacon wannabe

Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 17,153

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaineTech

Bitcoin as a whole is hackable (though the technology doesn't really exist today.) The client is completely separate and obviously this is a bit different but doesn't have a huge effect overall.

I assume you're referring to quantum computing?

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04-20-2013 , 05:29 AM

#5704

starvingwriter82

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 7,793

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaineTech

Bitcoin as a whole is hackable (though the technology doesn't really exist today.)

Isn't this true of literally everything?

I mean, it's possible to kill the pope with your mind (though the technology doesn't really exist today).

It's possible to rewind time and stop school shootings before they happen (though the technology doesn't really exist today)

It's possible to set up a totally awesome tourist attraction on one of the moons of Jupiter and make millions (though the technology doesn't really exist today)

This game is fun!

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04-20-2013 , 06:24 AM

#5705

steelhouse

banned

Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 6,109

Quote:

Originally Posted by starvingwriter82

Bitcoin can be taken down by the 3 largest pool operators (btcguild, ...) in a coordinated attack. The tech exists right now. Has anyone made a inventory of all the coins out there? Do that many people really play Satoshi dice?

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04-20-2013 , 08:39 AM

#5706

equity_pls

centurion

Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 156

it is possbile to buy Bitcoins via skrill and neteller without the risk of getting your account locked. simply buy second life Linden $ and exchange them for BTC

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04-20-2013 , 09:43 AM

#5707

DickFuld

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 4,113

Quote:

Originally Posted by starvingwriter82

The comparisons aren't the same, except the pope one which doesn't even fit here. I'm not really sure how to reword this, but the theory of the technology does exist and is provable (unlike your time travel example and people travelling to Jupiter as tourists) and is limited entirely by a lack of computing technology as of today. Here's a post by Satoshi, the creator of bitcoin, on another forum:

Quote:

SHA-256 is very strong. It's not like the incremental step from MD5 to SHA1. It can last several decades unless there's some massive breakthrough attack.

If SHA-256 became completely broken, I think we could come to some agreement about what the honest block chain was before the trouble started, lock that in and continue from there with a new hash function.

If the hash breakdown came gradually, we could transition to a new hash in an orderly way. The software would be programmed to start using a new hash after a certain block number. Everyone would have to upgrade by that time. The software could save the new hash of all the old blocks to make sure a different block with the same old hash can't be used.

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04-20-2013 , 11:46 AM

#5708

starvingwriter82

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 7,793

Yeah, I understand they aren't really comparable... was more taking issue with the ambiguous word choice than anything else. Just a grammar/semantics nit.

Any buyouts taken on the bitcoin prop bets yet? I've been sweating them for the lolz, but if I had bet for BTC to drop below 50 I'd probably be getting nervous about now. Looks to have "stabilized" (as much as the word can be applied to BTC at all) around 120.

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04-20-2013 , 01:17 PM

#5709

AlbertoKnox

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 3,676

Quote:

Originally Posted by steelhouse

Pool operators only have power as long as their miners stay with them. Most bitcoin miners don't want to hurt bitcoin and most pool owners don't want to destroy their business.

The blockchain is the inventory, there are about 100,000 copies of it floating around and you can conveniently view the data using a site like blockchain.info.

Exactly "that many" transactions are bets to satoshi dice. We can all verify that, that's how this whole bitcoin thing can work.

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04-20-2013 , 05:58 PM

#5710

DickFuld

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 4,113

Idk how many of you sit there and watch the market all day like I do but we just saw some interesting things happen. Someone bought thousands of bitcoins at market rate instantly and then within 1 minute someone created price support bid of 3600 coins right where the bid/ask is (that is unheard of.) Whole thing single handedly drove the price by $4-$5 and then all of a sudden the price support wall disappeared (it was cancelled.) Awesome to watch.

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04-20-2013 , 06:19 PM

#5711

Deep

grinder

Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 433

Yes, an over $1 million purchase cleared. The level of USD at Mt.Gox remains extremely high (all-time high in fact).

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04-20-2013 , 06:40 PM

#5712

dangerfish

old hand

Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 1,971

The coin is running hot today.

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04-20-2013 , 07:26 PM

#5713

sinner

veteran

Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 2,929

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaineTech

anybody want to explain this for a noob?

where do you watch the market? bitcoin.clarkmoody.com?

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04-20-2013 , 07:52 PM

#5714

Rob1543

old hand

Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 1,414

Quote:

Originally Posted by sinner

anybody want to explain this for a noob?

where do you watch the market? bitcoin.clarkmoody.com?

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaineTech

1. Someone placed a market order instead of a limit order. This means they buy coins at whatever the price happens to be not at a specified price point.

2. Someone made a buy order for 3600 coins right at the bid/ask price. Then they cancelled the order.

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04-20-2013 , 08:21 PM

#5715

waq

veteran

Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 2,700

I assume noob means not knowing what a "price support bid" is.

Not knowing what a buy order "right at the bid ask price" means or knowing why that is unheard of. I assume that was the price support bid.

Not knowing why that is a price support bid.

Not knowing what the significance is of that order being canceled or why it was awesome to watch.

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04-20-2013 , 08:31 PM

#5716

Deep

grinder

Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 433

Someone put a bid higher than the lowest asking price for bitcoins, which means all bitcoins up to his price were purchased. This gave him over $1 million in bitcoins and the remaining unmatched bid at the price he specified was canceled instead of remaining as an unmatched bid.

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04-20-2013 , 08:37 PM

#5717

Dak9885

banned

Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 4,196

Quote

04-21-2013 , 02:56 AM

#5718

Joenaes

enthusiast

Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 62

Odds on getting my money back from bitfloor?

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04-21-2013 , 03:21 AM

#5719

Rob1543

old hand

Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 1,414

I would like to bet btc hits $150 before it hits $100 (currently at $125). Would anyone like the other side?

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04-21-2013 , 04:54 AM

#5720

shoemaker

adept

Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 825

Looking to buy BTC for spot price (mtgoxlast) or close for Stars/Moneybookers/Neteller/FTP. Can do up to $10k worth.

Have many refs, PM with offers.

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04-21-2013 , 06:33 AM

#5721

sinner

veteran

Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 2,929

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Probability

I would like to bet btc hits $150 before it hits $100 (currently at $125). Would anyone like the other side?

DanDruff probably does.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/members/203376/

Last edited by sinner; 04-21-2013 at 06:47 AM.

Quote

04-21-2013 , 10:37 AM

#5722

gintron

journeyman

Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 240

Was clicking around on Mt. Gox and it crashed. Site is totally down now. Does that happen often? Seems they're being DDoSed

Last edited by gintron; 04-21-2013 at 10:54 AM.

Quote

04-21-2013 , 10:58 AM

#5723

DickFuld

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 4,113

Quote:

Originally Posted by gintron

Was clicking around on Mt. Gox and it crashed. Site is totally down now. Does that happen often? Seems they're being DDoSed

I think too many people were clicking around causing a crash.

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04-21-2013 , 11:00 AM

#5724

DickFuld

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 4,113

I did some research and found this which was posted to mt gox's facebook and twitter about 20 min ago:

We are experiencing some downtime at the moment and are investigating the source. Will update once the issue is clarified or resolved. Apologies for the temporary inconvenience.

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04-21-2013 , 12:54 PM

#5725

DickFuld

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 4,113

Update from great gox:

UPDATE: This again appears to be another strong DDos attack. We are working hard to overcome it and will update when possible. It's currently 2am in Japan so please forgive us if our Facebook/Twitter updates are not as quick, though the team is certainly not taking any breaks. We're very much looking forward to implementing a much stronger solution very soon and will make an announcement to that effect once it's in place.

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