Caught in the Net (Posts about satoshi nakamoto scam)francescomecca.euenContents © 2020 <a href="mailto:francescomecca.eu">Francesco Mecca</a> Wed, 29 Jan 2020 10:04:36 GMTNikola (getnikola.com)http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssWhy Wright's proof is a fakefrancescomecca.eu/blog/2016/5/3/satoshisignature/Francesco Mecca<div><p>I explained in my previous <a href="http://francescomecca.eu/pescewanda/2016/04/17/wright-nakamoto/">post</a> (in italian) that the signature that Wright provided as a public proof is in fact invalid. I want to explain briefly how you could check this claim. The key in Wright's <a href="http://www.drcraigwright.net/jean-paul-sartre-signing-significance/">post</a> is this:</p> <pre class="code literal-block"><span></span>------------------------- Signature File ------------------------- MEUCIQDBKn1Uly8m0UyzETObUSL4wYdBfd4ejvtoQfVcNCIK4AIgZmMsXNQWHvo6KDd2Tu6euEl1 3VTC3ihl6XUlhcU+fM4= ------------------------- End Signature -------------------------- </pre> <p>Now we can use some bash utilities:</p> <ul> <li>base64, that translates encoded ASCII text;</li> <li>hexdump, that displays hexadecimal contents from the input;</li> <li>cut, used to remove the binary part of the input;</li> <li>tr, used to delete spaces and carriage return from the input;</li> </ul> <pre class="code literal-block"><span></span>base64 -d &lt;&lt;&lt;'MEUCIQDBKn1Uly8m0UyzETObUSL4wYdBfd4ejvtoQfVcNCIK4AIgZmMsXNQWHvo6KDd2Tu6euEl13VTC3ihl6XUlhcU+fM4=' | hexdump -C| cut -b 11-60| tr -d ' \n' 3045022100c12a7d54972f26d14cb311339b5122f8c187417dde1e8efb6841f55c34220ae0022066632c5cd4161efa3a2837764eee9eb84975dd54c2de2865e9752585c53e7cce </pre> <p>Let's analyze the command one by one:</p> <ul> <li><code>base64 -d</code> decodes the redirected string, the output is some gibberish characters so I won't display them here;</li> <li><code>hexdump -C</code> is used with a pipe to convert to hexadecimal:</li> </ul> <pre class="code literal-block"><span></span>00000000 30 45 02 21 00 c1 2a 7d 54 97 2f 26 d1 4c b3 11 |0E.!..*}T./&amp;.L..| 00000010 33 9b 51 22 f8 c1 87 41 7d de 1e 8e fb 68 41 f5 |3.Q"...A}....hA.| 00000020 5c 34 22 0a e0 02 20 66 63 2c 5c d4 16 1e fa 3a |\4"... fc,\....:| 00000030 28 37 76 4e ee 9e b8 49 75 dd 54 c2 de 28 65 e9 |(7vN...Iu.T..(e.| 00000040 75 25 85 c5 3e 7c ce |u%..&gt;|.| </pre> <ul> <li>cut -b 11-60 displays only the characters from column 11 to 60:</li> </ul> <pre class="code literal-block"><span></span>30 45 02 21 00 c1 2a 7d 54 97 2f 26 d1 4c b3 11 33 9b 51 22 f8 c1 87 41 7d de 1e 8e fb 68 41 f5 5c 34 22 0a e0 02 20 66 63 2c 5c d4 16 1e fa 3a 28 37 76 4e ee 9e b8 49 75 dd 54 c2 de 28 65 e9 75 25 85 c5 3e 7c ce </pre> <ul> <li><code>tr -d ' \n'</code> is used to delete spaces and carriage returns from the output so that is shown in one line and it gives us the final result:</li> </ul> <pre class="code literal-block"><span></span>3045022100c12a7d54972f26d14cb311339b5122f8c187417dde1e8efb6841f55c34220ae0022066632c5cd4161efa3a2837764eee9eb84975dd54c2de2865e9752585c53e7cce </pre> <p>If you noticed, there is also another cleartext string at the beginning of Wright's post:</p> <pre class="code literal-block"><span></span>$ base64 -d <span class="o">&lt;&lt;&lt;</span><span class="s1">'IFdyaWdodCwgaXQgaXMgbm90IHRoZSBzYW1lIGFzIGlmIEkgc2lnbiBDcmFpZyBXcmlnaHQsIFNhdG9zaGkuCgo='</span> Wright, it is not the same as <span class="k">if</span> I sign Craig Wright, Satoshi. </pre> <p>Now let's head to blockchain.info. Blockchain.info has a little <a href="https://blockchain.info/decode-tx">utility</a> to get hexadecimal informations out of a transaction on the blockchain, so let's use it to get the related info about this transaction:</p> <p><a href="https://blockchain.info/tx/828ef3b079f9c23829c56fe86e85b4a69d9e06e5b54ea597eef5fb3ffef509fe">tx/828ef3b079f9c23829c56fe86e85b4a69d9e06e5b54ea597eef5fb3ffef509fe</a> <a href="https://blockchain.info/tx/828ef3b079f9c23829c56fe86e85b4a69d9e06e5b54ea597eef5fb3ffef509fe?format=hex">tx/828ef3b079f9... in hexadecimal</a></p> <p>As you can see the entire output of the first bash command, that is</p> <pre class="code literal-block"><span></span>3045022100c12a7d54972f26d14cb311339b5122f8c187417dde1e8efb6841f55c34220ae0022066632c5cd4161efa3a2837764eee9eb84975dd54c2de2865e9752585c53e7cce </pre> <p>is contained in:</p> <pre class="code literal-block"><span></span>"script":"483045022100c12a7d54972f26d14cb311339b5122f8c187417dde1e8efb6841f55c34220ae0022066632c5cd4161efa3a2837764eee9eb84975dd54c2de2865e9752585c53e7cce01" </pre> <p>except for the 48 at the beginning and the 01 at the end.</p> <p>That is a signature hash: this <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/List_of_address_prefixes">page</a> explains that the 48 is just a decimal prefix given to uncompressed transactions, and the 01 at the end is just a SIGHASH_ALL <a href="https://bitcoin.org/en/glossary/signature-hash">code</a> that flags the end of the signature.</p> <h3>So, is it a fake?</h3> <p>Yes, indeed. At the end, I ask, why would you choose anything else than the easiest and most conclusive way to prove something?</p> <p><img alt='Wright "signs" the blockchain' src="francescomecca.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/satosh.jpg"></p></div>BitcoinPesceWandasatoshi nakamoto scamscamwrightfrancescomecca.eu/blog/2016/5/3/satoshisignature/Tue, 03 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT