Bitcoin is a very popular cryptocurrency that is stored in Bitcoin accounts, called wallets.These wallets are distinguished from one another using an “address” that plays the role of a username.Bitcoin addresses are actually a string ID that has between 26 and 35 alpha-numeric characters.This wallet can be opened by a private key so that can be used to authorize bitcoin transactions.If the user loses this private key, they lose their only method of accessing a wallet.In most cases, users are supplied with an automatically generated private key when they register an account, which they can change later on.One of the most common practices to choose a Bitcoin wallet is via the “Brain Wallet” technique.Users can visit special sites or use special applications, sometimes embedded within Bitcoin wallet services, to enter a regular text-based passphrase.This passphrase is then converted using the SHA-256 hash algorithm into a 256-bit number that becomes the Bitcoin wallet’s private key.

In case the user loses their private key, they can always reproduce it by converting their passphrase into a 256-bit number via the SHA-256 algorithm.Now, three researchers have found out a rather simple way to crack the Bitcoin brain wallet passwords.The researchers have  published a paper detailing the method, which they claim, is 2.5 times faster than previous techniques and incredibly cheap to perform.White Ops security researcher Ryan Castellucci had demonstrated last summer at the DEFCON 23 security conference in Las Vegas, USA that it is easy for hackers to hack private bitcoin keys.bitcoin ledger blueHe was joined by two more researchers from University College London to crack the bitcoin wallet password.bitcoin pool calcThe three researchers used their technique against real-life Bitcoin wallets and managed to crack 18,000 passwords.genuine bitcoin earning sites

Some of the passwords included silly passphrases like:►   say hello to my little friend►   to be or not to be►   party like it’s 1999►   for the longest timeThe researcher also revealed that a potential hacker could use the basic Amazon EC2 account to check over 500,000 Bitcoin passwords per second.The researchers said that by renting a $1 EC2 server, an attacker would be able to check 17.9 billion password strings.To check a trillion passwords, it would cost the attacker only $55.86 (€49.63).The conclusion of this research is that users should stay away from using common passphrases to generate Bitcoin private keys, and despite the complex cryptography utilities used to build Bitcoin, the service’s security can still be sabotaged by the maligned practices users employ when choosing passwords for online accounts.The researchers have published their Speed Optimizations in Bitcoin Key Recovery Attacks research paper on  International Association for Cryptologic Research website.1 bitcoin a peso mexicano

Seattle-based bitcoin payment platform iPayYou this week announced a new feature called “Amazon Direct” that lets consumers transfer any dollar amount of bitcoin to use for purchases on Amazon.“This is the only direct way to purchase on Amazon with bitcoin today,” said iPayYou CEO Gene Kavner.“iPayYou.io also sells gift cards to many merchants, which includes Amazon, that may be purchased with bitcoin as well.Gift cards have advantages that they may be sent to friends/family but they are not a straightforward path for purchasing at Amazon as iPayYou’s Amazon Direct.” Here’s a how-to video that shows the integration: Before launching iPayYou last year, Kavner was previously the worldwide director of the Amazon Associates program and principal architect for display advertising at Microsoft.dogecoin vs usdHe started iPayYou to help make it easy to store bitcoin and use it to pay for products.bitcoin thrift store

The software also lets you send and receive bitcoin with friends, who don’t need a bitcoin wallet themselves.In July, the company rolled out a new service that allows anyone with a Twitter account to send and receive bitcoin payments, without providing any private information.iPayYou employs five people in Seattle and has raised investment from Roger Ver, a Bitcoin Foundation member and early Bitcoin evangelist.Bitcoin Writing and Video Tutorials I have written a series of Bitcoin Development related blog posts for Packt Publishing.Currently only one has been published.Additionally, I created a video tutorial for deploying a Toshi Bitcoin Node with Docker on AWS.Deploy Toshi Bitcoin Node on AWS with Docker Video Tutorial Bitcoin Network Visualizer I wrote a utilty to subscribe to WebSocket data feeds and display them in an in-browser console-like window.I've had to manually write code to inspect WebSocket data a few times, so I wrote this to make everyone's life easier.

The code can be found here.Brainfuck Interpreters I wrote Brainfuck interpreters in Ruby and JavaScript.Splaty (No longer active) This is a simple project I threw together to practice deployment strategies.I used the Capistrano gem to help automate all of the configuration and deployment steps required to get the app up and running on AWS.Splaty is a paste-board site that allows you to use a command box to encrypt, decrypt and email the text you paste.You can choose any path on the site to paste your content (e.g./123abc2da5df, /alex, /sat_study_material, etc.).Kraken Ruby Gem Kraken is a crypto-currency exchange based in San Francisco.I created a ruby gem to interface with their API.Maply Maply is an interactive, educational map built using d3.js.It is still in a very basic and early stage.My goal is to make an intuitive educational map of the world for people of all ages.I've always loved looking at maps to learn about the world and I'm building something I wish was available when I was younger.