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> What prevents China from deciding to eliminate the Bitcoin threat to its control by taking over the Chinese miners and launching a 51% attack? China isn’t st
by wyager 6y ago
> What prevents China from deciding to eliminate the Bitcoin threat to its control by taking over the Chinese miners and launching a 51% attack?
China isn’t stupid.
If they 51% attacked Bitcoin (completely contrary to their self interest), everyone would switch to a different hash algorithm and now China has burned tens of billions of capital, hurt their reputation, and achieved nothing.
- 1e-9 6y agoYou trust China to not attack Bitcoin because you consider it against their self interest. China just launched its own digital currency.[1] “In order to protect our currency sovereignty and legal currency status, we have to plan ahead,” said Mu Changchun, who is shepherding the project at the People’s Bank of China. China isn’t the only major power that needs to monitor transactions and maintain control of its money supply. There are plenty of capable parties that could launch a 51% attack and they’re unlikely to take responsibility for it afterwards, so reputation is hardly a factor. The fact that another hash algorithm could be used later doesn’t matter. A government doesn’t stop defending its interests just because threats change. Certainly, there may never be a 51% attack, but it will not be surprising if it happens. [1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-creates-its-own-digital-currency-a-first-for-major-economy-11617634118 https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-creates-its-own-digital-c...