the EC discrete logarithm problem take steps proportional to 2 where is the number of bits of the key ▪ secp256k1 uses 256bit keys: 2128 steps are needed to break it ▪ An EC computation takes 1 million CPU cycles. A 3GHz CPU is able to process 211.55 EC computations per second ▪ A CPU can break the EC in 2116.45 seconds, or about 291.54 years, i.e. about 3,599,861,590,422,752,583,114,293,248 years ▪ Throwing a million CPUs at the problem would reduce the time by a million, leaving it at 3,599,861,590,422,752,583,114 years, roughly 260,859,535,537 times the age of the universe © 2019 Digital Gold Institute 50/69