Author: Peter Todd 2016-11-17 08:44:05
Published on: 2016-11-17T08:44:05+00:00
In a Bitcoin development discussion, Eric Voskuil expressed concern over the possibility of a tx hash collision, which could produce a chain split if not handled properly. However, Peter Todd responded by stating that such an event would be highly unlikely, as SHA256 is currently a secure algorithm with infeasible brute-force attack against 256-bit keys. He added that if SHA256 were to become weak through advances in cryptography, Bitcoin would be fundamentally broken, as miners would be able to generate blocks with collisions in transactions and merkle trees, allowing for multiple contradictory transaction histories at once. Todd cited Bruce Schneier's statement that the maximums allowed by thermodynamics imply that brute-force attacks against 256-bit keys will remain infeasible until computers are built from something other than matter and occupy something other than space.
Updated on: 2023-06-11T20:37:26.388960+00:00