basilisk.txt (also known as the basilisk file or IA PoW 0[1]) is the name of a collection of over 125 million partial hash inversions of the SHA-256 cryptographic hash function. Assuming state-of-the art methods were used to compute the inversions, the entries in the collection collectively represent a proof-of-work far exceeding the computational capacity of the human race.[2][3] The collection first began to appear on the internet sometime before June 2017,[3][1] however it was not widely reported or discussed until early 2019.[3][4][1]
This hash inverting program was written to generate believable partial hash inversions for a science fiction story. It is a C++ rewrite of https://github.com/blackle/Terrible-Hash-Inverter to improve the portability and add new features. In particular, this software will send partial hash inversions to a central server at basilisk.suricrasia.online (NOT YET ONLINE.)
The server software lives at https://github.com/blackle/Basilisk-Server
git clone <repo url>
git submodule update --init --recursive
$ mkdir build
$ cd build
$ cmake ..
$ make
$ ./basilisk_hunter