Actually Hacking Bitcoin: It's Easier To Win The Lottery

Since this past weekend I keep seeing headlines about the latest "Bitcoin heist," which occurred in Iceland.

For accuracy, the headlines should read something to the effect of, "Bitcoin-RELATED heist," or, "Bitcoin EQUIPMENT stolen." But, no, of course we can't have that. The headline must be attention grabbing and sensational! If it's misleading, well...

What really happened: thieves broke into a mining center and stole mining computers. They didn't steal anyone's Bitcoins at all (but notice the headline Fortune put on this, still implying that cryptocurrency was stolen).

That's why a guy by the name of Brian Liotti of Crypto Aquarium put out this:

This is a table showing you the chances of guessing the private key of a random Bitcoin wallet, with funds in it, and the odds of guessing the private key of a specific Bitcoin wallet, versus winning Powerball.

Nine. Times. In. A. Row.

Previously I've written about the difference between the security of a Bitcoin wallet and cryptocurrency exchanges, what a private key represents (in two parts, here and here), and how the media frequently (maybe even intentionally) conflates a hack of an exchange with "hacking Bitcoin."

I explained then how it isn't really possible to hack Bitcoin itself, and I even posted the public address of one of my Bitcoin paper wallets for the world to see.

Go ahead and try to guess my private key and steal my Bitcoins. Or take all of your money and go buy Powerball tickets. You stand a better chance of your numbers being drawn in that game than you do of stealing my Bitcoins.

The reason Liotti created the table I've included above is simply that people's understanding of Bitcoin/cryptocurrency security is lacking, thanks in no small part to an often hostile, agenda-driven media that misrepresents the technology and events surrounding it ("FUD," in short). This slows wider adoption of the technology as it takes time for people to get legitimate news and information about it. It also warps the regulatory frameworks that governments erect around things, because regulation based on misleading or outright false information will be aimed at the wrong targets and ruin markets. Often that's good for entrenched special interests, and bad for the rest of us.

So go ahead and put a little money into a Bitcoin wallet instead of a Powerball drawing. Your chances of still having money for years to come are many times better!