Struggling with Bitcoin Puzzle Solutions? Let’s Discuss

11 years and people are still stuck on Puzzle 71, and don’t even get me started on 72. Most are just brute-forcing it, but come on, it’s more than just computational power. It’s about how the thing is structured. Imagine having 256 cubes in different colors. You only need 9 cubes, and they gotta be in order. Trying every single arrangement? Good luck with that. Better to cut down the search area, right? Split those 256 into smaller chunks, like groups of 50.

Can you break that down for me? Like if we’re looking for a number between 10 and 99, how do we do that in fewer than 89 tries? Not sure how having two digits helps if we're not talking about double digits. Are you suggesting we switch ranges when we tackle different puzzles? I’m a bit lost.

You’re giving too much credit to "structure" here. Just dividing the search space doesn’t really lower entropy unless those groups actually relate to the key. Otherwise, it’s still brute force dressed up. There are no distinct “9 correct cubes.” A private key is just one scalar value. When you check the address, you only get a yes or no. No clue if byte 3 is right or byte 7 is wrong. The secp256k1 and HASH160 combo is brutal on partial guesses.

I want to clarify my earlier points mathematically. Grouping 256 bytes into 50s doesn’t magically crack secp256k1 or HASH160. If the private key is random across the whole space, grouping doesn’t help. For a uniform key size N, after checking X candidates, the formula is simply P_full = X/N. But if the key wasn’t made randomly and has some structured origin, the search might change.