BTC_P2P's avatar
BTC_P2P 4 days ago
Serious questions: does anyone have an evidence based idea on how Satoshi generated entropy / keys? Is it known if he used a passphrase? He didn’t use a hardware signer. It seems likely he used a computer that had been online or continued to be connected to the internet to generate randomness. The offline only private key mantra feels like it’s potentially a psyop. It’s impossible for regular people to know exactly what components purpose-built hardware signers use. I’m scared of them.

Replies (10)

BTC_P2P's avatar
BTC_P2P 4 days ago
That’s my thesis. I’m a non technical when it comes to comp sci but it seems that if entropy is sufficient in key generation and the machine isn’t compromised then the protection of the underlying cryptography is fully sufficient.
1 replies ↓
Johnny's avatar
Johnny thejohnnycrypto@primal.net 4 days ago
@BTC_P2P i'd start with the v0.1 source, it shows the mechanism. Keys came from OpenSSL's random generator with extra seeding from Windows performance counters and the high resolution clock, on an ordinary PC. No passphrase existed then, wallet encryption arrived in 2011 and seed phrases in 2013.
Jay's avatar
Jay _@wisehodl.dev 4 days ago
Computers could generate true random numbers long before Satoshi created his keys. And generating keys on a computer that is connected to the internet isn't as bad as people make it out to be tbh. Unless you're at risk of getting infected by Pegasus I'd say you're fine.
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