Can anyone having the expertise, check out this claim!

[memehunter]

There is a user, ProphetDice who is claiming that Antminer S9 can be used for exploiting provably fair dice games by somehow predicting the outcome. You can read the full topic here.
I told him to move his topic here so that members with proper expertise can have a look but he insisted that it has to be on gambling discussion (honestly sketchy response). When I asked him a simple question, he came up with some posts loaded with jargon.  It looks more suspicious when he is indicating to his telegram channel.
Please any knowledgeable member check the validity of his claims.

[Kruw]

You could only bruteforce the preimage of a hash if the preimage itself had shitty entropy. I don't know more technical details to refute anything directly, but you can assume it's a scam since no one would ever sell such a method. They would simply use it and take 100% of the money themselves.

[DaveF]

Not to mention the other part.
Install this firmware on your miner, what could possibly go wrong, you do like bots on your network right?

And why the S9 there are newer / faster / better things out there.

And so on.

-Dave

[memehunter]

You could only bruteforce the preimage of a hash if the preimage itself had shitty entropy. I don't know more technical details to refute anything directly, but you can assume it's a scam since no one would ever sell such a method. They would simply use it and take 100% of the money themselves.

Not to mention the other part.
Install this firmware on your miner, what could possibly go wrong, you do like bots on your network right?

And why the S9 there are newer / faster / better things out there.

And so on.

-Dave

I have the same thoughts. But he was saying something like this

 Computational Challenge: Cracking a SHA-256 hash is computationally demanding, even for the Antminer S9.
 Ethical Implications: This raises ethical questions about fair play.

Crucial Warning

This project is strictly for educational purposes. Do not attempt to use this on live gambling sites. Using it to predict game outcomes could be considered cheating and have severe consequences. Always gamble responsibly.

Performance Comparison

Metric | Python Script | Antminer S9
------- | -------- | --------
Hash Rate | 100 MH/s | 13.5 TH/s
Time to Crack | Forever | Seconds/Minutes

Disclaimer

This project demonstrates the capabilities of ASIC hardware. It's essential to use this knowledge ethically and responsibly.

Feel free to reach out for questions or assistance. All code is provided open source.

Remember: Knowledge is power, but it's crucial to wield it responsibly.

There goes the neighborhood

And then when you see a comment from an established member who thought that this might be for creating a new genre of games,

The idea of ​​using ASIC for game mechanics, in particular Antminer S9 or some other, is original and interesting. You can try to implement this idea in the form of a kind of casino game. It is strange that no one has thought of this before. However, we should also consider the negative aspects of using such devices. Firstly, if you create a casino game for many players on this basis, then the question arises of where to get similar devices for many players. Should players have their own devices? It is a bit strange to come to the casino with your own device. What if different players have devices of different power? Therefore, someone will have an unfair advantage. So, before the start of the competition, the devices need to be checked somehow. There is an option to rent out the devices or use the Antminer S9 simulator that is the same for everyone. In this case, it will be pseudo-mining. It is also not entirely clear whether this will be a game of one person against the casino, as in the case of roulette, or it will be a competition of several miners for 1 prize set by the casino.

and

This is a very interesting concept! Many people forget that mining is essentially a game of chance, this human activity can be considered not only as the extraction of virtual minerals, but as a lottery game.

In the lottery, a player can increase his chances of winning by buying additional tickets. A miner increases his chances of winning by increasing his computing power (that is, buying more ASICs or buying those with more power). In any case, miners compete with each other, that is, it is a zero-sum game. Someone wins, and someone loses.

The very idea of ​​using ASICs not for their intended purpose, in my opinion, is very original and interesting.

It gets super confusing.
That is why I posted here.


Really!
I was expecting a quick, technically sound refutation of audacious claims made by ProphetDice. It is not good for many as they can easily be manipulated by believing in it. This is not good.

Edit:

I gave  you data that's undeniable. Transactions that are also undeniable.  The confusing numbers are results from very powerful tests being performed.
The success rate is provided by 3rd party monitoring.
The money speaks for itself.

I can see many new untrained players (especially from the gambling section) falling for this as the discussion overall has a positive vibe toward OP. This needs to be changed.

[DannyHamilton]

- snip -
he was saying something like this

Computational Challenge: Cracking a SHA-256 hash is computationally demanding, even for the Antminer S9.

Computationally demanding?   Assuming a reasonably large chunk of data being hashed, brute forcing is effectively impossible. There just isn't enough energy generated on the earth to try all possibilities. "Reversing" the hash is not something that an S9 (or anything else for that matter) is capable of.

Ethical Implications: This raises ethical questions about fair play.

The ethical implication is that he is using the greed and lack of knowledge of others to take advantage of them and enrich himself.

Crucial Warning

This project is strictly for educational purposes. Do not attempt to use this on live gambling sites. Using it to predict game outcomes could be considered cheating and have severe consequences. Always gamble responsibly.

Ooooh! A legal disclaimer.  Makes it sound important, and like he's somehow protecting himself from how YOU choose to use the "knowledge" he gives. I must say, if I were going to try to scam someone, I'd DEFINITELY use a disclaimer like this.

Performance Comparison

Metric | Python Script | Antminer S9
------- | -------- | --------
Hash Rate | 100 MH/s | 13.5 TH/s
Time to Crack | Forever | Seconds/Minutes

Oh my! He wrote some numbers. They must be meaningful and legitimate. It would be impossible to just make those up.

Disclaimer

This project demonstrates the capabilities of ASIC hardware. It's essential to use this knowledge ethically and responsibly.

Oh fun! He repeated his disclaimer. I suppose this is just in case people didn't notice it the first time?

Feel free to reach out for questions or assistance. All code is provided open source.

Link to the code please?  Should be able to determine pretty quickly what it actually does. Then, once you have the code, if it is determined to do what is claimed (it won't) then I suppose we can just run that code directly? We shouldn't need to acquire any binaries or executables or other files directly from them, right? Right?

Remember: Knowledge is power, but it's crucial to wield it responsibly.

Uh oh! It seems he may have accidentally leaked his real identity! Now we all know that this software was created by the amazing Peter Parker! A brilliant mind with unimpeachable integrity.

It gets super confusing.
That is why I posted here.

He's counting on the fact that many people mistakenly believe that bitcoin "mining" is "cracking hashes". It isn't. But since most people unfortunately hear it described as a "puzzle" that involves "finding the right hash" it's easy to see why they'd misunderstand. So, if someone hears that "provably fair" gambling games use "hashes" for the proof, AND they already believe that mining with an S9 is just "cracking hashes", then he's hoping that there's just enough confusion there for those that already participate in gambling to feel the gamble that this just might work is worth the wager they have to pay to find out.

Unfortunately, the house edge, or "vig", on this wager is 100%.

Really!
I was expecting a quick, technically sound refutation of audacious claims made by ProphetDice.

The world doesn't operate on your timetable.
Also, it's the responsibility of each individual to do their own due dilligence before engaging with someone making such a ridiculous presentation. People will believe what they want to believe and anyone that's already interacting with this person in a positive way is not going to want to hear or believe anything they are told about the technical aspects. This scam was never about the technical details (which is why there aren't any actual verifiable details). It was only ever about selling false hope to those that have already demonstrated a willingness to "take a chance" and are either gullible or desperate.

It is not good for many as they can easily be manipulated by believing in it. This is not good.

Scammers have existed for as long as humans have been interacting. They will continue to exist for as long as we continue to interact. There will always be people that will fall for it.

I can see many new untrained players (especially from the gambling section) falling for this as the discussion overall has a positive vibe toward OP.

This does not surprise me. Scammers will scam. People will be victims. I can educate those that WANT to be educated, but I can't force knowledge into anybody's brain and there are no "ethical police" on this forum.

This needs to be changed.

If you believe it can be changed, then change it.  Good luck.

Note: if there is a poorly designed game out there, that operates the way the scammer is suggesting AND which uses insufficient entropy for their "seed", then it would be possible to cheat in the way that he suggests.  Any such game would very quickly go broke, so it wouldn't last beyond the first day that someone notices this fact about the game.

[memehunter]

He's counting on the fact that many people mistakenly believe that bitcoin "mining" is "cracking hashes". It isn't. But since most people unfortunately hear it described as a "puzzle" that involves "finding the right hash" it's easy to see why they'd misunderstand. So, if someone hears that "provably fair" gambling games use "hashes" for the proof, AND they already believe that mining with an S9 is just "cracking hashes", then he's hoping that there's just enough confusion there for those that already participate in gambling to feel the gamble that this just might work is worth the wager they have to pay to find out.

Unfortunately, the house edge, or "vig", on this wager is 100%.

Thank you for providing your much-needed expert opinion. I was giving him the benefit of the doubt as I have very little knowledge about the subject matter. Considering your experience and stature I will now go ahead and update my neutral trust feedback to negative (so that I can do my part).
I apologize if I sounded rude when asking for expert opinions in a rush. I tried to learn about the subject matter but I guess it will take some time and little knowledge is more dangerous IMO.
Thanks once again for your efforts.     

[DannyHamilton]

I tried to learn about the subject matter but I guess it will take some time and little knowledge is more dangerous IMO.
Thanks once again for your efforts.    

Most of us that post in these technical sections know enough about mathematics to avoid negative expectation financial "games". As such, we don't have a lot of expertise in how the specifics of those "games" work. This will make it difficult to refute specific claims that the scammer might try to make.

For example, in this code that he supplied in his initial post

Code:

// Function to generate candidates
void generate_candidate(uint64_t nonce, uint8_t *candidate) {
    memset(candidate, 0, 64); // Clear the buffer
    memcpy(candidate, &nonce, sizeof(nonce)); // Use nonce as input
}

Why would nonce be a uint64_t? That's only a 64 bit integer? Are there actually "provably fair" gambling games that only use a 64 bit "secret seed"? That feels quite small to me. If such games exist, and there's no other data included in the hash other than that seed, they certainly would be more susceptible to brute-forcing than something that had a 256 bit seed.
 

[COBRAS]

Gambling result of this scrypts: quantity of losses are equal to quantity of profits. It mean what this is not so HIGH PREDICTION MODEL.

[ABCbits]

Aside from what other member said, there are few other red flags.
1. He made false claim about being open-source. His repository doesn't mention any license, which means it has exclusive copyright by default[1].
2. He claim his project is for educational purpose only. But he share screenshot of winning gambling on his telegram group.

[1] https://choosealicense.com/no-permission/

[viljy]

I believe that this is either a schizophrenic, obsessed with a super-valuable idea and megalomania, or it is an incredibly brazen scammer. In any case, dialogue with him is absolutely counterproductive and pointless. Moreover, if I had met such a person in reality, back when I was younger, I would have started hitting him no later than his third sentence. Now, of course, I'm more relaxed about such types. However, I do not insist that I am right in my guesses. Maybe I'm wrong, and this is not a scammer, but the new Isaac Newton of our day, and we just need to understand the meaning of his confusing text and believe the screenshots of dubious origin.

Gambling result of this scrypts: quantity of losses are equal to quantity of profits. It mean what this is not so HIGH PREDICTION MODEL.

Because it's a hoax, a fake. Moreover, unlike mining, in order to find out the seed, the ASIC must find a specific hash (which was given by the server), whereas in mining it is necessary to find a hash that is only less than a certain number determined by the current difficulty of mining. That is, this task is more difficult than mining. But judging by the short video on YouTube, the "predictions" work almost in real time. This is clearly a fake.

Well, some vague muttering of the author about machine learning immediately leads to the question: where are the trained models? If the code is open on GitHub, why doesn't the author show his models on Hugging Face? That would be logical for trust. Probably because there are no models. And the author's knowledge in the field of machine learning does not extend beyond what ChatGPT generates for him.

[memehunter]

I had a quick chat with the scammer which removed any doubt in my mind. I am posting the crux of the telegram conversation;



After that, he tried to get me to download and install some files which I refused. He was also demanding my betting history .
He even told me that this would work on the old mac book Air thus no need for any miner
I have every word recorded in case he wants to delete our conversation . I am sure he is reading this, sorry for the shock.
No, wait, wait! You deserve this.  

What happened buddy? I thought your entire purpose was to educate

[DaveF]

Shocked.....not
It's also kind of funny since ASICs are designed to do one thing.
And this is not what S9s are designed to do.

-Dave

[arabspaceship123]

I don't know why he made the topic about s9 miners exploiting games because users would to investigate the claim & show it's false. He wanted users to download the software to infect computers so I hope users are warned.

Shocked.....not

[DannyHamilton]

Retaliatory negative feedback. A scammers favorite temper tantrum. For some reason they all seem to think I care.

[memehunter]

Retaliatory negative feedback. A scammers favorite temper tantrum. For some reason they all seem to think I care.

I agree 100% with your assessment, it is indeed retaliation-based feedback. I wonder why he did not give me some negative feedback considering my actions . It seems scammer is too lazy to check untrusted feedback or simply does not care about them as he is too busy cracking hash(ish)

[ABCbits]

--snip--
I am sure he is reading this, sorry for the shock.
--snip--

He definitely read this thread, since that link now shows login page rather than live "statistics". I've made sure i typed correct link, since i would see "404: NOT_FOUND" if i typed wrong ones. By the way, he also share "Some of today's successful withdrawals" which is further proof his goal is to "educate".

[DaveF]

Retaliatory negative feedback. A scammers favorite temper tantrum. For some reason they all seem to think I care.

I agree 100% with your assessment, it is indeed retaliation-based feedback. I wonder why he did not give me some negative feedback considering my actions . It seems scammer is too lazy to check untrusted feedback or simply does not care about them as he is too busy cracking hash(ish)

<sniff>
He does not love me as much as DannyHamilton since I did not get any retaliatory negative feedback.
My feelings are so hurt now.

But anyway, does anyone think it's worth giving him a newbie-warning flag?

-Dave

[memehunter]

He does not love me as much as DannyHamilton since I did not get any retaliatory negative feedback.
My feelings are so hurt now.

I guess, he has given us all a message by setting an example out of @DannyHamilton.
Common, you are not that important to a delusional scammer (quite a combo!).

But anyway, does anyone think it's worth giving him a newbie-warning flag?

Considering the lengths he is going to establish his pathetic scam, I do not think he is going to stop any time soon, so the flag would be a good idea to remind him and others.
             

[DaveF]

Considering the lengths he is going to establish his pathetic scam, I do not think he is going to stop any time soon, so the flag would be a good idea to remind him and others.          

https://asktom.cf/index.php?action=trust;flag=3372

Feel free to support or not.

-Dave

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Supported your flag. https://asktom.cf/index.php?action=trust;flag=3372
Frankly I find it a bit insulting that he's trying this scam here.   An ASIC miner is capable of one thing and 1 thing only - mining BTC. All but the maybe newest folks here should know that what he is claiming is seriously impossible so what, he thought no one here would point that out?.. Their hardware is USELESS for doing anything other than mining SHA256 coins. PERIOD.

Then going on to say his program can run on an ancient laptop w/o even needing a miner... I'm sure it can considering it most likely is looking for wallets & keys along with no doubt planting a few back doors in the systems it finds on your local network  He should stick to Telegram scams where idiots and the technical-illiterate abound.