Attempting to hack Bitcoin wallet addresses, LBC project is considered to have illegally stolen Bitcoin

Golden Finance News - For nearly a year, a group of cryptography enthusiasts have been focusing their resources on a quixotic attempt to brute-force Bitcoin's cryptographic algorithm to create Bitcoin wallet addresses. This is considered impossible today, but if they succeed, at least one Bitcoin cryptography will be instantly obsolete.

(The crazy LBC project wants to crack the Bitcoin wallet address. Image source: Golden Finance)

The project is called the Large Bitcoin Collider (LBC). The LBC attempts to perform cryptographic collisions, which essentially prove that a supposedly unique and random string of numbers can be repeated. Along the way, enthusiasts are using the project's massive computing power to try and break the rules of Bitcoin's algorithm, ultimately opening Bitcoin wallets owned by others and potentially taking the Bitcoins inside.

The basic principle is this: Bitcoin wallet addresses containing funds can be accessed through private keys, which are addresses that are generated at the same time. Technically, a number of private keys can open any given Bitcoin wallet address, but it takes a lot of computing power to find out where the address is. LBC attempts to do this by organizing the computing power of anyone willing to download and run the software.

Finding a private key that works with an existing Bitcoin wallet is a quick and decentralized "cracking" process, and gives the attacker access to all Bitcoin funds. But when someone in LBC discovers a suitable working private key, will they be able to take the Bitcoin for themselves?

“In principle, yes, but if a backup key appears for the Bitcoin wallet address, LBC members will consider him as the owner of the address,” LBC project member Rico explained in an email.

As for the legality of it all, LBC offers participants a fairly hands-off attitude.

“Depending on your jurisdiction, this could be considered theft and therefore illegal.”

LBC's website announcement shows.

“However, there are many controversial points, we believe that the member who found the private key matching the Bitcoin wallet address can perfectly legally claim 5-10% of the value found. So if the member considers taking possession of all the Bitcoins, this would make him a criminal. But if you take 10%, you are still a law-abiding citizen.”

LBC has been working for less than a year. So far, Rico claims that the project has generated more than 3,000M private keys and checked their existing Bitcoin wallet addresses to see if they worked, and has found 3 addresses that contain Bitcoin. In total, they found more than 30 valid private keys, some of which are suspected to provide easy bait for crackers.

"This project has been labeled many things: impossible, illegal, pointless, etc."