#eli5 So if someone by wants to brute force attack Bitcoin, they just enter seed-words into wallets and see if there is a balance?

or

Given a single address, do you need to enter the correct seed-words to access a specific address?

It just blows my mind that there are millions of wallets out there that are deemed safe despite only needing 12/24 words off the BIP list. What resource can you point me to that will make me understand there is no risk here?

#asknostr #askbtc #bitcoin

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It is rather simple math.

Get some books or search online.

Check the number of allowed words and how many combinations that can make.

Check how fast computers can check those combinations.

Check how much computers are on earth.

Check how many centuries it would take all of them to guess a right combination

And you will sleep like a baby.

I get it will take centuries to find my address… but seems like they will find someone’s , even if not mine.

There is a big difference between “pick my number between 1 and a trillion trillion” and “pick any of the 100 million wallets between 1 and a trillion trillion”

Yes, big numbers continue to be hard to understand for most.