The Impossible Task: Can You Send a Satoshi to Every Bitcoin Address?

In 2020, the crypto community was excited about Ethereum’s successful transition from a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) model. However, one question lingered on the minds of many: can you send a satoshi to every Bitcoin address that has ever been used?

Ethereum’s new PoS consensus is an exciting development, as it allows validators to secure the network by staking their own cryptocurrencies rather than relying on the energy-intensive process of mining. However, this change does not automatically allow a small amount of cryptocurrency like a satoshi (0.0001 BTC) to be sent to every existing Bitcoin address.

The Bitcoin Address Database

To answer this question, we need to understand how the Bitcoin network manages addresses. There are over 6 million unique addresses on the blockchain, each associated with a specific private key and public address. These addresses can be thought of as “addresses that have been used.”

In Bitcoin, new addresses are generated by hashing the user’s private key, which is then appended to the end of the previous hash. This process continues until no new addresses can be created. However, there is an additional layer of complexity: bitcoin-merkle trees.

The Merkle Tree

A Merkle tree is a data structure that allows for efficient storage and retrieval of hashes. Each address is hashed once, and then multiple hashes are generated by taking the hash of each intermediate hash (called a “leaf” hash). This process creates a tree-like structure where each node represents a hash.

Bitcoin-merkle trees store the entire Bitcoin blockchain in a way that allows for fast lookups and efficient storage. When generating new addresses, the Merkle tree is updated by adding the new private key to its corresponding leaf hashes.

Sending a satoshi to every address

Assuming an infinite number of satoshis are available, it is theoretically possible to send a satoshi to every existing Bitcoin address using Ethereum’s PoS model. However, several challenges and complexities make this task impractical:

• Network capacity: The Bitcoin network has a limited capacity for transactions and block creation. Sending a satoshi to every address would require a huge amount of computing power and energy, far exceeding current limits.

• Transaction fees: As you mentioned, transaction fees can be extremely high due to the complexity of the Ethereum blockchain and the need for confirmation times. This makes it difficult to justify sending a small amount like a satoshi to every address.

• Block Size Limits

  

  : The block size limit on the Bitcoin network (1 MB) limits the number of transactions that can fit in a single block. Sending one satoshi to each address would require the creation of thousands of blocks, each with billions of transactions.

Estimating the Number of Addresses

To get an idea of ​​​​how many addresses exist, we need to consider the total number of unique addresses created since the first block was mined in 2009:

• Bitcoin has been around for over 13 years.

• Each new address is generated by hashing a private key.

• With about 6 million unique addresses on the blockchain, and a rough estimate of 10% of those being newly created per year (conservative assumption), we can extrapolate to:

6,000,000 addresses * 0.1 new address/year = 600,000 new addresses/month

600,000 new addresses/month * 12 months/year ≈ 7,200,000 unique addresses

Conclusion

While it is theoretically possible to send a satoshi to every existing bitcoin address using Ethereum’s PoS model, the scale of the task is unrealistic and would require a huge amount of computing power and energy.