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A long-held Bitcoin’s secret key is about to be revealed. It is a private key that the Bitcoin’s creator handed over to a few entrusted Bitcoin developers. It includes an alert system that would send a text warning to all Bitcoin communities in case of a security violation.
Bitcoin secret key did not hold much importance up till now. The reason is that a warning system similar to this one was introduced back in 2016, but it was terminated due to security concerns and frequent confusion about its use. The system has been created by an unknown Bitcoin creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, so that the entire community could receive important information in one go.
Along with a string of tweets and cryptographical proves, Bitcoin Core contributor Bryan Bishop tweeted: “Folks, it’s going to be an interesting show” which proves that a secret key is on its way to being revealed.
Bishop told the CoinDesk that he plans to release the key soon, but he’s not sure about the exact date. He further added:
“It’s time. I’m thinking about releasing the private key early July at Building on Bitcoin, though it’s not finalized yet.”
The reason it did not work out two years before was due to the fact that the community was becoming more widespread. A lot of users got access to the key and there was no track of who had the key and who was sending out security messages. According to Bitcoin Core’s regular contributor, Greg Maxwell, it created a lot of misunderstanding about the protocol’s security system.
There was also a threat of personal data exposure if the key came in the hands of a dangerous member. It was an unorganized mess and caused more catastrophe than security. The system was thus shut down. However, it will relaunch with better security and will be available to a limited audience.
