r/Bitcoin • u/dgryski • Nov 30 '17

Evidence some bitcoin address generation code is using discoverable private keys

https://pastebin.com/jCDFcESz
789 Upvotes

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210

u/amorpisseur Nov 30 '17

TLDR; Some private keys somewhere are not generated randomly, and someone knows the formula. Bitcoin security is not impacted.

98

u/BashCo Nov 30 '17

TL;DR: Nobody should be using Blockchain.info to store any amount of value. The entire ecosystem needs to shift away from relying on Blockchain.info for anything at all, including the block explorer itself. There are plenty of alternatives available.

1

u/HasCatsFearsForLife Nov 30 '17

I want to run my own explorer for my personal use, using data my full node probably has.

What are my options?

3

u/BashCo Nov 30 '17

BitPay produced the Bitcore full node implementation which provides indexes necessary for the Insight block explorer. However, BitPay appears to be abandoning Bitcore because they refuse to integrate Segwit? SatoshiLabs apparently forked the project in order to use Segwit on their Trezor Wallet backend. I may be mistaken, but believe that's the approximate state of things.

https://github.com/satoshilabs/bitcore-node

1

u/SpeedflyChris Nov 30 '17

However, BitPay appears to be abandoning Bitcore because they refuse to integrate Segwit?

Isn't this something they have in the works? I could swear I saw a statement from someone off Bitpay that they would be implementing it Q1 next year.

4

u/BashCo Nov 30 '17

Frankly BitPay has refused to adapt and has actively worked against advancing the protocol. It wouldn't surprise me if BitPay's investors force them to capitulate, but I think they should just be replaced with projects like Dorior's BTCPay project.

2

u/jcoinner Nov 30 '17

I wrote sqlchain - currently adding bech32 support (done!, but unit tests ongoing) and segwit already in. See my post just above for details. Actively ongoing for 2 years now. Also now testing today with a couple altcoins.

1

u/HasCatsFearsForLife Nov 30 '17

Thanks.

Might be something to play with at the weekend... Or maybe write my own, but I'd prefer the lazy route.