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Anytime an article on technology begins with an appeal to authority, then lists authorities who hate the technology, while citing zero authorities who are propo
by lowkey 5y ago
Anytime an article on technology begins with an appeal to authority, then lists authorities who hate the technology, while citing zero authorities who are proponents of the technology, while also admitting that it is a contentious subject with advocates from both sides - it is not a balanced article. It is a hit piece.
The amount of misinformation in this piece is frankly incredible. I have seen credible anti-Bitcoin content on HN in the past. This is not credible. It is barely coherent.
For example, check out the authors claims about decentralization, the ease of 51% attacks, and forks - then ask yourself why in 12 years no one has successfully attacked the network using one of these seemingly easy to execute exploits.
Bitcoin offers an almost $1 trillion USD bounty for anyone who successfully attacks it, open for any hacker with internet access. Can the author or the authorities he cites explain why the network remains I hacked?
We can do much better on HN.
- qeternity 5y ago> Bitcoin offers an almost $1 trillion USD bounty for anyone who successfully attacks it, open for any hacker with internet access. No, it doesn’t. BTC would implode if it were successfully attacked. You can try to put on a massive short but you’re left with worse issues and capital utilization.
- lowkey 5y agoFair point. No way a hacker could extract anything close to $1 trillion USD without crashing the price. I would argue that they could extract many millions, possibly billions before the community caught on though. Wouldn’t that be sufficient incentive to hack it? Why hasn’t anyone done it?
- ryan_lane 5y agoWhy would you kill the golden goose? The people who are willing to steal money from each other are busy doing rug pulls, smart contract attacks, and pump and dumps. As long as people are putting money into the system, they can continue extracting it.
- usednet 5y agoYou’re seriously saying hackers capable of exploiting Bitcoin’s blockchain aren’t doing so currently? A successful double spend or wallet hack would make unfathomably more money than any rug pull or pump and dump ever could.
- lowkey 5y agoNone of those things are happening to on-chain Bitcoin. You seem to be confusing Bitcoin with cryptocurrencies in general. A bit of research will show you that the two are not the same. The beauty of the Bitcoin system is that any participant can easily and continuously audit the available supply of Bitcoin for the price of a Raspberry Pi and an SSD. You can also accurately predict the inflation rate and supply for any point in time in the next hundred years. Try doing the same with fiat, gold, stocks, or real estate. You will quickly discover it is much harder if not outright impossible.