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This whole thing reminds me a bit of xkcd.com/538/ The simplest way for the US to get rid of bitcoin is to secretly declare it a national security threat, then

This whole thing reminds me a bit of xkcd.com/538/ The simplest way for the US to get rid of bitcoin is to secretly declare it a national security threat, then identify, apprehend, and possibly extradite a majority of the Bitcoin Core developers. Then force them to release a new version which is easier to control, but incompatible with the old version. Maybe this is just a PoS version, with inherent flaws? If some of the miners stay with the old version that's fine - a fork helps your goal.

michaelmrose 6y ago
You don't think there are any legal hurtles to doing so?
- wheelie_boy 6y ago
  This is an extremely aggressive approach - the scenario is that the government considers it a threat to national security, which presumes that modifying national laws isn't a problem. You'd be able to detain developers from other countries with extradition agreements, and maybe a few others if you want to risk angering those countries. That'd probably be enough. A lot of the discussion in the linked post is about specific ways that countries could take down bitcoin, but my main point is that if a majority of large countries wanted to take it down, they have a large variety of tools they could use to do so. Building a lot of hash capability is probably low on the list. The tech is built and run by people, and countries have a lot of ways of exerting power on people, should they consider it important. Like, the US was arranging coups across central and south america so that bananas would be cheap, I don't think it's too far-fetched to think that violence is a tool they'd reach for to take down bitcoin if needed.
  - morlockabove 6y ago
    That might be good in the long run; bitcoin's notoriously flawed when it comes to privacy, speed, power use etc. But maintains top position because it were forst; were USG to crush it, a more modern, privacy-centered currency like monero could take center stage.

michaelmrose 6y ago

You don't think there are any legal hurtles to doing so?

wheelie_boy 6y ago
This is an extremely aggressive approach - the scenario is that the government considers it a threat to national security, which presumes that modifying national laws isn't a problem. You'd be able to detain developers from other countries with extradition agreements, and maybe a few others if you want to risk angering those countries. That'd probably be enough. A lot of the discussion in the linked post is about specific ways that countries could take down bitcoin, but my main point is that if a majority of large countries wanted to take it down, they have a large variety of tools they could use to do so. Building a lot of hash capability is probably low on the list. The tech is built and run by people, and countries have a lot of ways of exerting power on people, should they consider it important. Like, the US was arranging coups across central and south america so that bananas would be cheap, I don't think it's too far-fetched to think that violence is a tool they'd reach for to take down bitcoin if needed.
- morlockabove 6y ago
  That might be good in the long run; bitcoin's notoriously flawed when it comes to privacy, speed, power use etc. But maintains top position because it were forst; were USG to crush it, a more modern, privacy-centered currency like monero could take center stage.