Anthropic's Claude AI discovers NSA elliptic curve numbers derived from 1997-98 clock times, reigniting debate on Bitcoin's secp256k1 design

Anthropic's Claude AI model solved a decades-old cryptography mystery in under 30 minutes, tracing NSA-supplied elliptic curve starting numbers to a 1997-98 computer program using clock times. The finding suggests the numbers were generated without intentional backdoors, though questions remain about skipped values. Bitcoin uses secp256k1, designed with publicly understood numbers, which Claude found to have no weakness. The debate revisits whether Satoshi Nakamoto avoided NSA curves correctly after Edward Snowden's 2013 leaks, but the practical security of Bitcoin remains unchanged.