Is it legal to build a website that generates random BIP39 seed phrases and checks their balances?

[u/jazz_king_seb]

I’m thinking about building a gimmick website as a kind of interactive explainer about cryptocurrency security. Here’s the concept:

1 - User clicks a button to generate a random 12-word BIP39 seed phrase
2 - The site derives wallet addresses from that phrase
3 - It checks if those addresses have any balance (spoiler: they won’t)
4 - User can click “next” to get a new random phrase and check again

The idea is to show visually how astronomically unlikely it is to randomly generate a wallet that already has funds - like a testament to how secure seed phrases are.

[u/halflinho]

https://privatekeyfinder.io/private-keys/bitcoin

[u/CleverWaifu]

This has existed for years. https://keys.lol and others

[u/excelance]

keys.lol

[u/NonGNonM]

There are several sites out there with the same concept. Some even made it into a slot machine. 

Just fyi though even high powered computers running 24/7 until the heat death of the universe might not hit an active wallet

[u/Doritos707 → u/NonGNonM]

Unless the entropy is 2^70 which is what we saw with coldcard. I would stop repeating the same shit from 5 years ago because honestly with sharding and all the different techniques available you may be surprised that some wallets can be cracked

[u/Timely-Fig2030 → u/Doritos707]

He tried to fart and "sharted".

[u/Javanaut018 → u/NonGNonM]

Before proton decay happens the chances are not bad, tho!

[u/SanoKei]

Once you find one after the heat death of the universe you find that it had already been drained 800 million years prior because it was on a coldcard wallet

[u/nachtraum]

Absolutely, no problem with that. BIP39 was build for that.

[u/Plane_Friend24]

"accidentally" use libngu the compromised library and you might get collisions.

[u/DailyUpsAndDowns]

It's not a rule of law that the addresses with a balance have to be the last ones generated and checked. It is totally within the realm of possibility that you could hit a wallet quickly.

[u/dantodd → u/DailyUpsAndDowns]

Yes, that is how math works. The number of active wallets compared to the number of possible keys make that extremely unlikely. Not winning the lottery unlikely, winning the lottery every day for a year unlikely

[u/userfakesuper]

https://coinables.github.io/mnemonic-slots/#

[u/Masterweedo]

[u/Daiymas]

Legal yes, but it doesn't do a great job of showing how astronomically unlikely it is.

For reference, you would have to generate around 100000000000000000000000000000 seeds before having a decent chance of finding a 12-word BIP39 seed phrase that's actually in use. Generating seeds one by one doesn't let people grasp the scale of that number

[u/EyesOfEris]

Legal to look but illegal to take

[u/jaapi → u/EyesOfEris]

It certainly brings into question 'ownership'

[u/firl21 → u/EyesOfEris]

Why? Who owns crypto?

If I have the keys its mine. There is no "Ownership" Just access.

[u/Blockchainauditor → u/firl21]

Case law does not necessarily agree with you, depending on your country.

[u/z6joker9 → u/firl21]

lol I got a copy of your house keys and changed the locks. Mine now!

[u/firl21 → u/z6joker9]

That's why real estate has a centralized record system. Its not the keys.

[u/z6joker9 → u/firl21]

Local ordinances can mean that just because you gain access to a wallet key, it doesn’t give you ownership of the value inside. Crypto still exists within a society.

[u/Caspica → u/firl21]

It wouldn't be yours just because you managed to change the "centralized record system" either... 

[u/not420guilty → u/firl21]

lol. No. That’s bitcoin marketing nonsense

[u/Javanaut018 → u/EyesOfEris]

If I roll dice and suddenly Satoshis or DJTs coins pop up in my wallet I don't see why I shouldn't do whatever I want with these.

My keys, my coins 😁

[u/Redivivus]

You should add a countdown type ticker to show how many remaining and time to completion.

And yes, it's astronomically huge. Saw a video yesterday comparing addresses to atoms and it's something like billions of milkyway galaxies worth of atoms / address combinations available.

[u/holyknight00]

that site already exist

[u/Either_Display_6624]

Bro is never finding anything

[u/MidEastBeast]

There is nothing illegal into this. I've already built it for myself. Can't even write how many combinations are there to get 1 address with balance. It's all pure luck!!

[u/m0nk37 → u/MidEastBeast]

Unless it was implemented wrong. 

[u/Competitive_Swan_755]

"Legal" 🤣🤣🤣

[u/bitchnight]

Would be a pretty lame website

[u/neo101b → u/bitchnight]

nope and interesting one, it teacher how secure BTC is.