Mathematics (Sep 2020)

A Small Subgroup Attack on Bitcoin Address Generation

  • Massimiliano Sala,
  • Domenica Sogiorno,
  • Daniele Taufer

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/math8101645
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 10
p. 1645

Abstract

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We show how a small subgroup confinement-like attack may be mounted on the Bitcoin addresses generation protocol, by inspecting a special subgroup of the group associated to point multiplication. This approach does not undermine the system security but highlights the importance of using fair random sources during the private key selection.

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