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Actually, at least as of a couple of months ago, if you are generating all new coins, you can prevent all transactions from being validated (by refusing to incl
by Estragon 14y ago
Actually, at least as of a couple of months ago, if you are generating all new coins, you can prevent all transactions from being validated (by refusing to include them in your blocks) or undermine community faith in bitcoin integrity by double spending. Both capabilities would be pretty devastating.
- jerguismi 14y agoYou need more than 50% of the total bitcoin network computing power to do that kind of attack. While goverments have the money to do it, do they have the capabilities and incentives?
- Estragon 14y agoOf course many governments have the capability. The main reason a government would want to do this is that control over the coin of the realm is a major source of state power. If a government ever concluded that bitcoin posed a credible threat to that power, that would be a strong incentive to undermine it.
- celticninja 14y agoCapability =/= Ability
- Estragon 14y agoSorry, not sure what your point is. Could you say a bit more about it?
- celticninja 14y agoJust because the government has the resources to throw at a problem it does not mean that they will do so effectively or efficiently.
- DanBC 14y agoWhat? You think NSA or GCHQ[1] don't have the knowledge to implement an efficient bitcoin machine? You think they don't have the money? You think they don't already have significant computing power? Or are you suggesting they'd be hampered by legal oversight issues? [1] GCHQ probably have the most powerful computing facility in Europe. That puts them amongst the most powerful computing centres world wide.