Are there questions that just can't be answered?

How do we even tackle this topic? Like, who knows how the secp256k1 generator was created? I was chatting with someone who claimed no one knows, but if someone made it, surely there’s a story behind it. Would love to hear what you guys think.

Nah, it’s been debated for ages and still no solid answer. Just look at examples out there, it's a mystery. Like, the original code from the 90s is long gone, so we’re left guessing. Plus, the generator was just a random example, different networks can roll with their own.

So check it, if I were a sneaky curve architect, I wouldn’t use an obvious backdoor generator as the public one. I’d pick something that seems secure while keeping my own shady generator for personal use. It’s all about playing with the scalar multiples to keep things under wraps.

Hey @rdenkye, can you break it down? How would a backdoor generator even work? Just wanna understand with a simple example. All I know is, you can’t use a broken key to open up a lock.

That ain’t what I meant. Just pointing out that doubts about this stuff are kinda pointless, right?

Edit: The size of N is irrelevant here. In cryptography, we shouldn’t just trust things blindly, and how G was created is totally up for debate.

There’s no backdoor, man. It’s about knowing the origins. Check this out: people are discussing it on GitHub. If you make G.x = SHA-256("something"), that could lead to issues, but if you use SHA-256("something"||G), it’s a wrap. No backdoor risk.

Got me thinking... what if we derive G using something like G.x = SHA-256("some string")? Is there a risk, and how do we fix that?

You kinda already got the answer in those links I shared. If you use just SHA-256("something"), then yeah, it’s risky. But making it SHA-256("something"||G) means the generator doesn’t matter anymore as long as it stays constant. And the secp256k1 value seems safe enough.

If any generator is flawed, then all are. That’s just math. The endless chat about choosing generators comes from not having enough info.

True, but it changes nothing about how it was picked. The question is: are there questions without answers? This situation is more about curiosity on how it was made than any real weakness.