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This is a common misconception, the Bitcoin network would not be harmed by governments seizing control of Bitcoin mining operations, there are many options in s
by sbenitoj 9y ago
This is a common misconception, the Bitcoin network would not be harmed by governments seizing control of Bitcoin mining operations, there are many options in such of an event. All seizing mining would do is prove how resilient Bitcoin is to government efforts and further decentralize the currency. Also, implicit in your statement is the belief that miners control the network, which is not true. They're an important part of the ecosystem, but they don't control the network (if they did, the blocksize would've increased a long time ago and there probably never would've been a fork).
- simias 9y ago>This is a common misconception, the Bitcoin network would not be harmed by governments seizing control of Bitcoin mining operations, there are many options in such of an event You'll have to give us some sources for that I'm afraid, it's not at all obvious from my point of view. Should China merely shutdown the miners the disruption shouldn't be too massive and only temporary while the difficulty adjusts to the new hash rate. But if they actually decide to use the miners "offensively" they could make a 51% attack and double spend bitcoins. Such an attack would greatly reduce confidence in bitcoin and would probably tank its value pretty hard. That sounds pretty harmful to me.
- sbenitoj 9y agoHere are two short talks (both ~7 mins) by Andreas Antonopoulos related to this: Bitcoin Q&A: Could governments take over exchanges? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PrJQeKl9w4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PrJQeKl9w4 Bitcoin Q&A: Will governments ban cryptocurrencies? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIQkuF_I5Xo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIQkuF_I5Xo