2

Here's a table I got from bitcoin wiki.

They say:

A special case, leading numbers 1 (one) is especially difficult.

But why?

MCCCS
  • 10,097
  • 5
  • 27
  • 55
  • 2
    Take a look at this answer. http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/10828/vanitygen-why-is-it-easier-to-generate-an-address-that-starts-with-a-capital-le – m1xolyd1an Aug 28 '16 at 15:35
  • See this question's answer [here](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/10828/vanitygen-why-is-it-easier-to-generate-an-address-that-starts-with-a-capital-le) – user2716556 Oct 25 '16 at 19:25

1 Answers1

0

An address has 1 + 20 + 4 bytes, which has a total of 200 bits. Each of the Base58 characters contain log_2 58 bits of information, which is approximately 5.858. If one created an address that has the public key hash 0000...00, the result would be a 5-6 character address, due to the checksum. To prevent this, Satoshi decided to add "1"s for each 0x00 byte in front of the address. Those "1"s each contain 8 bits of information instead of 5.85... As they carry more information, it's harder to find an address starting with those 1s.

MCCCS
  • 10,097
  • 5
  • 27
  • 55