Brute Force Bitcoin

The Odds

Every number here is worked out from the address list and your speed, and the live ones move while the board runs, even while you read this. They get better. They do not get good.

The board is not running. Start it on the home page and come back.

Possible private keys
1.2 × 10772256, a number 78 digits long
Possible addresses
1.5 × 10482160, because an address is a 160-bit fingerprint of a key
Funded addresses checked
1,000,000The richest, holding 17,021,759 BTC: 84.69% of all bitcoin.
Chance per key
1 in 1.2 × 1042Each key makes four addresses and each is compared with its own kind: 1,270,100 comparisons out of 2160 possible addresses.
Chance this session
none yetPress Start on the home page and this starts counting.
Chance for every visitor so far
waiting
Expected wait at your speed
3.6 × 1029 yearsAt 100,000 keys a second, a fast laptop. That is 26 billion billion ages of the universe.
If all 8.2 billion people ran this
4.4 × 1019 yearsEveryone alive, each at your speed, all at once.

Your session, in Powerball

Your session's chance so far, turned into Powerball jackpots won in a row with one ticket each. It goes down slowly as you try more keys.

Read: How Big Is 2256?

Your session, in Powerball

No tickets yet

Winning the jackpot is 1 in 292,201,338 per ticket. This is how many in a row, one ticket each, your session so far is as likely as.

One atom in the Earth

The Earth holds about 1.3 × 1050 atoms. There are 1.5 × 1048 possible addresses, so hitting one particular address is like picking one marked atom out of about one percent of the planet.

Read: How Big Is 2256?

One atom in the Earth

1 in 1.3 × 1050

Picking one particular atom out of the whole planet. One particular address out of every possible one is 1 in 1.5 × 1048: about the same job.

Over the age of the universe

Your chance by now if this page had been running at your speed for the whole age of the universe, 13.8 billion years.

Read: The Speed Problem

Over the age of the universe

1 in 2.6 × 1019

Your chance by now, if this page had been running at your speed for all 13.8 billion years.

One key, in squares

Forty-two digits is hard to picture. Twenty-one lucky guesses in a row is easier.

Each grid has 100 squares and one right answer. Pick it. Then pick the right one of the next 100, and the next, 21 times in a row, first try every time. That is the chance of one random key opening one of the richest million addresses: about 1 in 1.2 × 1042.

Scroll to wait

How long one hit takes, against everything else that takes a long time. Keep scrolling. It is further than it looks.

  1. 1 year Start here
  2. 80 years A long human life
  3. 5,000 years All of recorded history
  4. 1,000,000 years A million years
  5. 1,000,000,000 years A billion years
  6. 13.8 billion years The age of the universe
  7. 3.6 × 1013 years Every Bitcoin miner on Earth, if a key cost them one hashwaiting for one hit
  8. 100 trillion years Until the last stars burn out, roughly
  9. 3.6 × 1016 years A billion graphics cardswaiting for one hit
  10. 4.4 × 1019 years Everyone alive, each running this pagewaiting for one hit
  11. 3.6 × 1025 years One high-end graphics cardwaiting for one hit
  12. 3.6 × 1029 years This page, at your speedwaiting for one hit
Every step down the page is ten times longer than the one before it. The waits are for one hit at the board’s chance per key; yours moves with your speed.

The working behind each line: How Big Is 2256? and The Speed Problem.