This week we shipped 4 interactive explainers on the crypto foundations of Bitcoin and Lightning:

Hash collisions
Every Bitcoin address has an absurd number of valid private keys that can spend it. Collisions are guaranteed… and still impractical to find.
https://drop.amboss.tech/hash-explainer.html

Signatures: Nonce reuse
Sony lost the PS3 master key because one number got used twice. The same bug drained Bitcoin wallets in 2013.
Run the attack yourself on real secp256k1 — 77 microseconds.
https://drop.amboss.tech/signatures-explainer.html

What the blockchain sees of a Lightning payment
Nothing.
No block. No confirmation. No permanent record. Nobody along the route can take a single sat.
https://drop.amboss.tech/lightning-explainer.html

SWIFT vs Lightning
In 2016, hackers stole $951M from Bangladesh’s central bank using correctly authenticated SWIFT messages.
SWIFT only carries instructions, which is why international wires still take 1–5 days through correspondent bank hops.
https://drop.amboss.tech/swift-explainer.html

Happy routing ⚡