Chapter 183 Old Classmates

When entering the P2P network, in order to protect your Bitcoins from being taken away by others, you will definitely need a password.

And the Bitcoin password is amazing.

Everyone will first have a randomly generated number. This number is between 0-2 raised to the power of 256. It may appear more than the number of atoms in the universe, so even the top hackers cannot decipher it. , extremely safe.

Next up is a 58-base algorithm called base58.

What is the 58-based system? For example, the binary system is 0 and 1, the decimal system is 0 to 9, and the hexadecimal system is based on the decimal system plus the six letters A-F.

The 58-base system contains numbers, lowercase English letters and uppercase English letters.

Using this algorithm to turn the random number mentioned before into a string looks similar to those "mysterious codes", but it is much more complicated.

The final string you get is your private key, which is your "account password"

Now that you have a password, you must also have an account. Based on the private key, a public key is calculated through an elliptic curve ECPOINT algorithm. This is your account.

Finally, based on the public key, an algorithm is used to calculate a relatively short string as your address, and you can start the transaction.

If you need to collect money, tell the other party your address. If you want to pay, you need to tell others your public key and address. The function of the public key is to check whether the address is yours.

It is impossible to deduce the private key from the public key. The number is too huge.

"It's true that the safer the transaction method, the more complicated it is." After listening to the core mechanism of Bitcoin, Wu Bin sighed with emotion, and then asked: "Then how to solve the inflation problem?"

"Simple." Li Yan snapped his fingers, "The number of Bitcoins is limited, and the mechanism that controls the speed and quantity of its issuance is the so-called mining."

"Specific algorithm?" Wu Bin asked.

"Well, almost. Since there are a large number of transactions, someone has to organize the account book. In Bitcoin, this account book is called the blockchain. Each block corresponds to a bill. Any transaction information and transfer records are recorded here. in the blockchain.”

“Every other point in time, the Bitcoin system will generate a random code on the system node. All computers on the Internet can look for this code. Whoever finds this code will generate a block and then get a Bitcoin. , this process is what people often call mining.”

Speaking of which, Li Yan tapped the graphics card configuration on Wu Bin's computer screen and said, "And this algorithm is where the graphics card is used."

"The version number of this block, the hash value of the previous block, the transaction address, the update time and the current difficulty are calculated with a random number A 64-bit hexadecimal number."

“If the final number is less than the given target value, it will be successful and one Bitcoin will be awarded.”

"Oh, by the way, this mined Bitcoin is not the same '1' as the one you heard can be sold for thousands. This Bitcoin is based on the current data structure and is divided into 8 Small digits.”

"So it's 0.00000001?" Wu Bin thought for a while and said.

Li Yan nodded: "Yes, it is expected that by 2140, 21 million Bitcoins will be issued, a veritable gold mountain that everyone can mine." After speaking, Li Yan suddenly shook his head: "What a pity, this was originally It’s a very interesting mathematical problem, but now it has been monopolized by mining farms, and the founder’s imagination of ‘decentralization, equality for everyone, and computing power democracy’ has become a bubble.”

After recalling, Wu Bin silently uninstalled Bitcoin Miner. Originally, he was thinking about whether he could develop a better algorithm to calculate the results faster.

However, in the end, he discovered that the so-called mining algorithm, which sounds extremely complicated, is actually just guessing numbers, fixed and simple, and there is nothing that can be improved.

There is only one way to win in this so-called "mining" game, and that is to find the hardware that executes the algorithm the most times per unit time. In addition, it is also very difficult to cheat in this seemingly fair game. Simply, whoever has the greater number of such hardware is most likely to win the game first.

When Bitcoin first came out, everyone could indeed mine using the CPU of their home computer.

It's a pity that as long as it is a profitable thing, someone will definitely come up with a cheat.

In 2010, a hardware engineer discovered that there was a specific computing component in the GPU chip produced by AMD that could speed up the key step of guessing numbers.

As a result, "GPU mining machines" assembled from multiple GPUs quickly eliminated ordinary computer mining machines. This is why graphics cards were different from other computer hardware in those years. The price often rose instead of falling, and they were always out of stock.

Later, more terrifying FPGA mining machines appeared, which further eliminated unnecessary image computing hardware units in the GPU, greatly improving the "mining" efficiency again.

Finally, a mine with 20,000 "mining machines" joined the "game", announcing the complete end of the era of individual players.

"Oh~ As expected, I have to seize the opportunity in everything. When everyone knows it, I will never be able to defeat those rich brothers."

Seeing that Bitcoin Miner was successfully uninstalled, Wu Bin sighed and continued to write his code silently.

During the rest of the winter vacation, Wu Bin would often take a few books and go to the park to sit with the cats all afternoon. Sometimes Fang Qing would come, and the two would just nod and smile at each other. Then he would read, and she would draw cats, and occasionally ...and draw people.

During the Chinese New Year, under the organization of Gu Fan, the study group established by Class Three with Wu Bin as the center went to the teachers' homes to pay New Year's greetings.

At the Shangbei Road bus stop, Gu Fan, who was wearing a ski shirt, saw Wu Bin standing by the bus station reading a book from a distance. He shook his head, said with emotion, "It hasn't changed yet" and ran over.

"Happy New Year, Wu, the crazy student."

Gu Fan, who slapped Wu Bin hard from behind, said hello.

Wu Bin, who was staggered by the slap, did not fight back. He stood firm, shook his head, looked at Gu Fan and said, "Childish."

This made Gu Fan, who had already thought about how to defend against Wu Bin's counterattack, a little embarrassed. It felt as if Wu Bin had become a mature college student and he was still a high school kid.

And just when Gu Fan was embarrassed and didn't know how to answer the next sentence, the book in Wu Bin's hand hit him on the head.

"Happy New Year, you bastard."

"Pfft, okay, just pretend to be serious with me, right?" Gu Fan reacted instantly and locked Wu Bin's neck.

While the two were fighting, another familiar voice reached their ears.

"You are all college students, can you stop being so embarrassing on the street?"

The two of them turned around and saw that it was Xu Hao, and there was a girl they were also familiar with cuddling next to them.

PS: It’s not cool... The company took a month off. There are a lot of things to deal with these days, and I really don’t have time. Now that I have everything done, stable updates will be resumed.

PS2: In fact, there are many interesting things to say about Bitcoin mines. If there are still students who are interested, I will find an opportunity to write about them later.