In the first installment of this series, we introduced the concept of “quantum computing” and how, while still experimental, its implications for blockchain security include the potential exposure of public keys, the theft of funds—and thus the transformation of cryptocurrencies as we know them. That article focused on the SHA-256 algorithm’s contribution to Bitcoin security primarily via its consensus mechanism, but SHA-256 is only one side of the coin so to speak. In this second part, we will examine the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA). A signature algorithm deeply embedded within the Bitcoin protocol, ECDSA adds a layer of authentication by linking a public key with its corresponding private…
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Bitcoin Is 15, and the Tributes Are Legion
Commemorating Satoshi Nakamoto’s seminal white paper outlining a peer-to-peer electronic cash system in 2008
On the 15th anniversary of Satoshi Nakamoto publishing the Bitcoin white paper, Modern Consensus has gathered a selection of tributes – a mix of the poignant, the thought provoking and since Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gensler felt the need to weigh in, the clownish. Bitcoin Magazine One of the very first publications devoted to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Magazine was co-founded in 2012 by a 17-year-old Vitalik Buterin, whose father had piqued his interest in the young technology the year before – and who went on to invent Ethereum, announcing it in his own white paper in November 2013. In a feature published today entitled “The Reformation of Money: Bitcoin’s Whitepaper…
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Thawing Out Cold Storage
Putting some BTC to work in DeFi while keeping the rest offline
With a market capitalization of $660 billion as of this writing, bitcoin is not only the first and oldest cryptocurrency, it’s the largest store of value – fully 53% of the total value of all cryptos tracked by CoinMarketCap. And bitcoin true believers are notorious for holding onto their BTC for the long term. In April the percentage of BTC that had not moved in 2 years hit an all-time high of 53%, and almost 29% of all bitcoin in circulation hadn’t moved in 5 years ($150 billion of market cap at the time). In fact, it’s a notable event when a very old BTC address sends funds for the…
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On Eve of SBF Trial, Stolen FTX Funds On the Move
FTX hacker transfers funds for first time since weeks after the November 2022 exploit
As Sam Bankman-Fried, disgraced founder of crypto exchange FTX, sits in a jail cell in Brooklyn’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center awaiting the start of his trial on Tuesday for seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, funds that were stolen from FTX in a hack hours after the firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last November have moved for the first time in more than 9 months. Not only was the FTX collapse already one of the most stunning debacles in the long history of financial disasters, the siphoning of $600 million in funds from the company’s crypto wallets added insult to injury and led to speculation that company insiders were absconding…
