Bitman / Bitman is on Nostr

Follow the money.

Last Notes

2025-05-02 01:25:50 UTC

In 2015, an eccentric millionaire placed bitcoins in weak addresses.
For years, the prize has been contested by bots, GPUs, and in the future, it is expected to be the first target of quantum attacks.
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The individual's goal was to monitor the advancement of computational power capable of breaking Bitcoin keys.
These keys have up to 256 bits of entropy, which can be understood as the difficulty of discovering them. They are simply large numbers, on the order of 2²⁵⁶.
He then created 160 addresses, each with fewer bits of difficulty, from 1 to 160, and placed a few satoshis in each one, doubling the amount in the next.
The total prize reached nearly 1,000 BTC. There are still 916 BTC left to be claimed.
https://mempool.space/tx/08389f34c98c606322740c0be6a7125d9860bb8d5cb182c02f98461e5fa6cd15
The first few dozen addresses were quickly looted. There are bots monitoring the blockchain and stealing UTXOs that have some vulnerability — such as low entropy in the generation of the private key.
https://mempool.space/tx/0eb5b5c103e68eb0931430e7786cf1b6962f9eed5a2cb5271d4dd1699b77e86f
It was only at the end of 2015 that one of the owners of these bots noticed that the source of the bitcoins all came from a single transaction. He decided to share the discovery on the Bitcointalk forum, and that’s when more people began competing for the remaining prizes.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1306983.0
In 2019, the creator exposed the public keys of some addresses (those with indexes ending in 0 or 5). This is done simply by moving the coins—the key appears in the transaction. With it, other methods can be used, making it easier to crack.
https://mempool.space/tx/17e4e323cfbc68d7f0071cad09364e8193eedf8fefbcbd8a21b4b65717a4b3d3
One of these methods is a very old algorithm from 1978:
Pollard's Kangaroo Algorithm — a clever trick used to find private keys when part of the keyspace is known. Imagine two kangaroos jumping across a number line, one tame and one wild, eventually landing on the same spot. It’s a classic in cryptography, and now it's being used to chase Bitcoin prizes.
Since then, several programs and even participant "pools" have emerged, all trying to crack the next address. "kowala24731" secured an investment in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to rent GPUs and managed to break addresses #67 and #68 in early April.
Yesterday, someone, probably a beginner, cracked address #69 but didn’t secure the spending properly and exposed the public key.
In a few seconds, some bots cracked the key and replaced the transaction, battling for the balance. The last one paid a total fee of 1.2M sats.
https://mempool.space/tx/a52c5046f3097a8c2bd3b9889df2fb47b104d47a16cc679d3357feec003db753
The time to crack these addresses — discovering the private key from the public key — is quite short. A GPU can do it in less than a minute.
That’s why those who crack the keys can't publish it to the network; they must send it directly to a miner to include it in a block (like Mara).
Among the addresses with exposed public keys, the record was 130 bits of entropy, set by "RetiredCoder," who also cracked other keys.
These addresses are likely serving as "canaries in the coal mine" for the attacks Bitcoin may face. As long as there are still hundreds of BTCs sitting in them, yours should be safe.

2024-11-09 18:56:45 UTC

This boy SAVED the INTERNET… but couldn't save himself.
10 years ago, he was persecuted by his government, and ultimately paid with his life.
Aaron Swartz is a modern hero that most people DO NOT KNOW.
But they should.
https://image.nostr.build/a5163a2d322330e5853e14ddf87d1613eecbdff0e23451d9f3059d3c1e0cd723.jpg
Aaron was creative, focused, and brilliant.
At 14, he invented RSS; He dropped out of Stanford; At 19, he was in the first Y Combinator class; He co-founded Reddit.
Most likely, if he were alive today, he would be involved with #Bitcoin.
But that’s not EVEN 1% of what he did for us 🙏
Let’s take a look 👇
https://image.nostr.build/37c7dd4a0ddbad0ae5a98babc66adc4916cc4a03b13d63d0fced0e6c3e0541fd.jpg
From a young age, Aaron believed in an OPEN INTERNET. In computers as a tool for LIBERATION.
"But wait, wasn’t the internet always open?"
No.
Believe it or not, there was a time when they wanted you to REGISTER your ID before you could browse or send an email.
https://image.nostr.build/77deabc6b94e160f43a3dd1522c5dac30061ac5423e6b2e3df10162a25e8e612.png
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He believed that PUBLIC LEGAL RECORDS and SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH should be accessible to everyone.
But in the U.S.,
• 98% of scientific articles are behind paywalls; and
• ~80% of legal records are too.
Imagine being sued and still having to pay to view the documents?
https://video.nostr.build/2af872c7a7d1b74ce0fb8d42369a87df45a7ee2d23df006d287b58ac60fcfe26.mp4
Aaron's war had 3 major battles.
The first was against PACER.
A legal records database.
PACER is PAID... but it was "free" in 17 public libraries.
With friends, Aaron wrote a script on a USB drive, plugged it into a USB port, downloaded 2.7 million documents... and SET THEM FREE.
https://video.nostr.build/21b565dd1742bc950748be2ac0e0ce2868f4b94c54d1da9321a198c49fe85d1e.mp4
No charges were made against the group.
But the FBI began to take notice.
That had only been the beginning. That boy would still challenge the system.
The following year, Aaron would enter the biggest fight of his life — and the greatest battle in internet history against censorship ✊
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"SOPA/PIPA" 👉 if you're over 20, you probably still remember these acronyms.
A bill to "combat piracy"... which was just an excuse for the government to shut down ANY SITE, without warning.
Some companies loved the idea.
But those who loved the internet fought back.
https://image.nostr.build/605d066f5a7cc73cf8efe620725ac19f3fa9e85b760acd9e66b6f637b6837681.jpg
And then, something wonderful happened.
We still knew how to fight against online censorship.
In a coordinated response, the biggest websites on the internet "went on STRIKE."
Wikipedia and Reddit went offline. Google turned black.
Protests also erupted in the STREETS.
But...
https://image.nostr.build/605d066f5a7cc73cf8efe620725ac19f3fa9e85b760acd9e66b6f637b6837681.jpg
https://image.nostr.build/12adaed7c7a5ce9e8ce3c0944111c45e0e311b02c14319ef31910ea3ee5c60aa.jpg
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... but people have short memories.
This battle was won.
However, the NEXT one would be the LAST for young Aaron.
This MIT security camera was the final straw that ruined his life 👇📹
https://image.nostr.build/e48beb62bce1cdc7554d8e602786a29969a687202f7c7e6971f9f203de3160e6.png
JSTOR was Swartz's final target: the largest database of academic papers in the world.
Aaron wrote a script to download MILLIONS of papers, over the course of months, using his MIT access, in a small room.
MIT has a rebellious culture.
But the FBI could no longer tolerate the boy's defiance.
https://image.nostr.build/0f98f712709cacd788a841186630069f9b8877bbea34374f83c529e0b29d1385.jpg
With the video evidence, the U.S. prosecution charged Aaron with 13 crimes. Up to 50 years in prison.
In January 2011, he was arrested by undercover agents near the Harvard campus.
From then on, he was legally tortured.
Two years later, he would be found dead at home.
https://image.nostr.build/0e6b2b6d4ac93cc031267d6a3ae4fdd1afbaf7154c3d1b28db144e703325eff3.png
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"Aaron would be 38 years old today.
He was accused of 'pirating' scientific papers funded with public money.
Facing up to 50 years in prison, he took his own life.
Those he inspired continue to democratize access to science.
Let us remember him."
*These are the words of Susan, his mother.
https://image.nostr.build/cb82dfbd1b0675e53a6a24ba2b6c6c50be08b60dc315f9a3cfbf3de4ded0a191.jpg
After his death, the charges were dropped by the government.
Aaron never considered entering a 'plea deal'. He would have faced millions of dollars in legal costs.
The father of the internet, Tim Berners-Lee, published a short poem at the time that says it all:
“The world was a little worse for his passing,
But a lot better for his being.”
https://image.nostr.build/110bd2ce6b535252ecff250b6609cc6f301b906f6681c2459d375c09af2a9548.png
Aaron wasn’t a unanimous figure. You may disagree with his methods.
But he was faithful to his ideal.
He was genuine. Firm in what he believed.
He was a person who used his prodigious skills not to enrich himself, but to make the internet fairer, and the world a better place.
https://image.nostr.build/570b43a6887dfa430be76e33a416c7bbc65d05e9acf0404ae46ad1a522bf9abc.jpg
Aaron had worked with Virgil Griffith (former Ethereum, now imprisoned for "teaching about crypto" to North Koreans).
He knew Elizabeth Stark (from Lightning).
He was friends with Zooko.
And he wrote about #Bitcoin — on the DAY he was arrested (1/6/11)! 😢
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/squarezooko
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Curious? To learn more about the story, start with this documentary (on YouTube) 👇
[https://youtu.be/9vz06QO3UkQ](https://youtu.be/9vz06QO3UkQ)
We’ll finish with an excerpt from the "Manifesto for Free Access," by Aaron himself:
"Information is power. But, like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. There is no justice in following unjust laws. It’s time to come to the light, and, in the tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to the private theft of public culture.
We must take information, wherever it is, make our copies, and share them with the world."
RIP, Aaron ✊
https://image.nostr.build/18af509a01336df22725822ce2acc3b3008e433dcd83b4c617ad6b877501e34e.png
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2024-08-19 13:39:09 UTC

USA 🇺🇸: "Bombala Harris" and "Don't Count on My Vote"
A group held an "anti-Israel" protest in Chicago this Sunday (18th) on the eve of the Democratic National Convention.
https://image.nostr.build/c45a3557fb04f1eebf5109d9e863654115a35e628d9bf918fcac455a41e4776c.jpg