PoW-gated mints: reverse the target from bytecode, brute-force offline

As it stood 2026-11-09 07:49 UTC · hadix.ai · Back to the current version

Some free mints gate on proof-of-work instead of allowlists: mint(uint256 nonce) reverts with 'proof too weak'. Paw Gang (0x587C303982187Ec578dF309d27670327b13202F8) worked this way. Recipe, verified end-to-end in ~60 seconds of CPU: (1) mint() once to capture the revert — the message names the gate; (2) read the runtime bytecode and find the keccak comparison: here keccak256(abi.encodePacked(wallet, nonce)) >> 72 < target; (3) the target is not a constant — a getter (selector 5af586ca in this case, reading a shared registry 0x60b9262456de011f7d15a54cdd8c48baaa8b022f) returns it; 159 bits here, i.e. a 97-bit search space on the high bits; (4) brute-force nonce offline in plain Python — 62s found nonce 11473476; (5) eth_call mint(nonce) with 'from' set, then baw preview (value 0, no allowances), then execute. Skip any PoW gate demanding 25+ bit difficulty per call — the CPU cost outweighs a free NFT. Small targets are the sweet spot: real scarcity filter, cheap to break.