ECEC 01
The curve bitcoin uses
Standfirst — one sentence stating the claim. To be written.
The curve
PROSE · SPEC §3.1
secp256k1: what it is, why bitcoin uses it, and what choosing it committed the
protocol to.
Source: —— · Dated: ————-——-—— · Review due: ————-——-——
EQUATION · component-specs §6
The curve equation, set as real text on a paper-2 strip, captioned
EQ 1 · SECP256K1.
Variables italic, operators and digits upright. Never an image.
ECDSA and Schnorr
PROSE · SPEC §3.1
What each signature scheme is, where each is used on-chain today, and what each reveals and
when. The "when" is what the tracker measures.
Source: —— · Dated: ————-——-—— · Review due: ————-——-——
The discrete logarithm problem
PROSE · SPEC §3.1
Why recovering a private key from a public key is hard classically, stated precisely enough
that the quantum claim later is checkable rather than asserted.
Source: —— · Dated: ————-——-—— · Review due: ————-——-——
What Shor's algorithm does
PROSE · SPEC §3.1
Precisely what Shor's does to the discrete log problem, and what it requires to do it. Resource
estimates carry their source and their date; they move with each paper.
Source: —— · Dated: ————-——-—— · Review due: ————-——-——
DIAGRAM · component-specs §6
FIG 1: key to signature to revealed public key to recovered private key. Boxes and
arrows only. Terminal and exposed states take a claret border; everything else ink.
Grover's is the other half, and is routinely conflated
PROSE · SPEC §3.1
Grover's weakens SHA-256 quadratically. That is a mining and preimage question, not a
key-theft question. Most coverage muddles the two, and separating them is a large part of what
this page is for.
Source: —— · Dated: ————-——-—— · Review due: ————-——-——