3 ms·

Bitcoin is a protocol. There could feasibly be a vulnerability in mining pool software that could enable fraud, for example.

• londons_explore 5y ago
  Fraud in a mining pool would only impact miners, and anyone who doesn't like it can use a fixed version of the mining pool software. Nobody would see major losses, and I don't imagine it would cause a lack of confidence in bitcoin.
  • rspeele 5y ago
    What about a scenario where a hack of widely used mining software enables an attacker to do a 51% attack? Miners would unknowingly aid the attacker by using the compromised software, and the attacker could execute a double spend. It would be caught after the fact, and the software patched, but money would be lost and confidence in Bitcoin's resistance to double spends would be shaken.
  • sudosysgen 5y ago
    Because this would enable a 51% attack. If you could attack pool software for 51% of hashrate, you would be able to validate a fraudulent transaction and make millions of dollars out of it.
    • tromp 5y ago
      One of Bitcoin's essential properties is that the miners are not trusted to validate correctly. If a miner mines an invalid transaction, then the network will simply reject their block.
      • drekk 5y ago
        ... unless you impact 51% of the hash rate and effectively become "the network" for the purposes of reaching consensus