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First, miners also invest in the future of the coin when they invest in building up a mining operation for it. Second, if most miners stop mining a coin, it ca

First, miners also invest in the future of the coin when they invest in building up a mining operation for it. Second, if most miners stop mining a coin, it can kill it. At least the next few blocks will take a very long time to be confirmed. Just as importantly, the security of the system is reduced because a large miner could theoretically overwhelm the remaining hashpower and execute a "51% attack" for some short-term profit. It's unlikely, but the confidence in the coin is partly based on it being impossible.

CydeWeys 9y ago
> Second, if most miners stop mining a coin, it can kill it. This won't happen though. Miners are out to make a profit, full stop. They mine whatever currency is most profitable, so hash power follows price. Bitcoin has over half of the total cryptocurrency market cap. So long as Bitcoin itself is highly valuable, the miners will naturally follow along as well. And as some miners temporarily defect (thus incurring massive hourly losses in opportunity costs from mining less valuable currencies), transaction fees on Bitcoin simply go up higher, making each block worth significantly more reward, thus tempting the defectors with ever-increasing profits to defect back to mining Bitcoin. There is no mining cartel.