How SHA-256 Hashing Works in Bitcoin

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12 Jan 2025

Abstract and I. Introduction

A. Quantum Bitcoin Mining

B. Our Contribution

C. Comparison with Related Works

D. Conventions

II. Background

A. Bitcoin Basics

B. Bitcoin Security

C. Grover’s Search Algorithm

D. Quantum Attacks

III. Approach

A. Algorithm

B. Markov Chain

C. Assumptions and Approximations

IV. Results

A. Probability of Success

B. Performance Measures

C. Example Application

V. Discussion, Acknowledgments, and References

D. Conventions

Authors:

(1) Robert R. Nerem, Institute for Quantum Science and Technology, University of Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada ([email protected]);

(2) Daya R. Gaur, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Lethbridge, Alberta T1K 3M4, Canada.


This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license.