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Governments cannot stop Bitcoin on a global scale for the same reason they cannot stop Internet on a global scale. There is no cost-effective way to destroy a
by mrb 13y ago
Governments cannot stop Bitcoin on a global scale for the same reason they cannot stop Internet on a global scale.
There is no cost-effective way to destroy a well-designed decentralized technology/protocol, plus it would require co-operation of most countries to destroy it.
- tptacek 13y agoYou mean, unless they buy enough asics.
- mrb 13y agoDid I not demonstrate in a back-of-the-napkin way that it is out of reach of the NSA ($3-4 billion & deploying 500 megawatt within 6-7 months)? If the NSA cannot do it, no government can.
- eli_gottlieb 13y agoNever call something impossible when there are political and financial points to be scored by doing it.
- bpicolo 13y ago$3-4 Billion is nothing for China. If they want to destroy it it's totally trivial. Besides, I bet they can cook up more efficient devices than commercially available asics.
- mrb 13y agoTrivial? Let's assume attacking the Bitcoin network would be a project falling in the hands of the most well-funded Chinese government agency: the military. (It would not, but let's assume it). This represents about 3-4% of their annual budget (~$100B), which is not quite insignificant.