3 ms·

So now you just have to trust that they don't have 11% more unused CPU power sitting around waiting to suddenly take over the network at any moment.

• deweller 12y ago
  They don't own the computer power. It comes from the miners who join the pool. The 51% attack problem is something that needs to be solved for bitcoin. But it isn't as bad as you think it is. I used to think that someone who took over the network could spend my bitcoins even without my private keys. But that is not true. The actual attacks possible with 51% are significantly more minor than stealing bitcoins.
  • sanswork 12y ago
    With 51% a miner could orphan everyone elses mined blocks could they not? Essentially giving them 100% of the rewards. Thats pretty huge.
    • servowire 12y ago
      All the miners would leave that pool if they did that. I would.
      • sp332 12y ago
        Really? If the pool only has 51% of the mining power but gets 100% of the block rewards, pool members would get coins at double the normal rate. I don't see a lot of people leaving in that event.
        • leni536 12y ago
          And what would happen to the value of bitcoin?
• baddox 12y ago
  That was and is always the case. Each individual Bitcoin miner can only be certain that they themselves are not colluding with other miners, but for all they know, every single other Bitcoin miner in the world could be colluding against them. Luckily, there is very little incentive to take over the network.