Author: Watson Ladd 2016-01-08 14:34:09
Published on: 2016-01-08T14:34:09+00:00
A discussion was held on the bitcoin-dev mailing list regarding the security of P2SH (pay to script hash), which is used in Bitcoin transactions. Some members raised concerns that if there is an attack on RIPEMD160, which is used in conjunction with SHA256 to create unique addresses, it could leave P2SH vulnerable. However, others argued that even if a collision is found in RIPEMD160, it would not help an attacker, as they would still need to create a specific SHA256 hash for the RIPEMD160 preimage. Additionally, the use of nested hash functions by Satoshi Nakamoto everywhere makes it difficult to break the system. Nonetheless, some members felt that 2^80 is not a good level of security and suggested using simpler scripts until better algorithms are developed. There was no viable attack proposed unless there is a cryptographic break in RIPEMD160 and SHA256.
Updated on: 2023-06-11T02:58:49.508708+00:00