BTC Endgame
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BTC Endgame
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Re: BTC Endgame
#2The linked Medium posts have a bit more content https://joekelly100.medium.com/how-to-kill-bitcoin-part-1-is...
Note that this is from last July, when the price of BTC was significantly lower and thus the price of the attack is likely higher now. That said, this becomes more feasible in the long-run when mining is purely funded by transaction fees.
Something I don’t see talked about much is the fact that, although Bitcoin is intended to be non-inflationary in the long run, the mining network that keeps it secure is currently 80-90% subsidized by inflation.
Re: BTC Endgame
#3>There is currently no defense for this attack in Bitcoin, as the simulation
demonstrates.
The entire Bitcoin miner reward model is the defense for this attack.
Nation states have powerful computers... but nowhere near as powerful as the decentralized Bitcoin mining network combined.
Even if they did currently, the endgame for Bitcoin as envisioned by Satoshi Nakamoto was for everyone on the planet to be mining Bitcoin at the same time.
If a Nation State could ever become more powerful than every single private processor on the planet combined... I think it would be game over for a lot more than just Bitcoin.
Re: BTC Endgame
#4What a great idea. The attack described there is plausible, and experimenting in the means of defence before it happens is crucial for the continuity of cryptocurrncies.
Re: BTC Endgame
#5The linked Medium posts have a bit more content https://joekelly100.medium.com/how-to-kill-bitcoin-part-1-is... Note that this is from last July, when the price of BTC was significantly lower and thus the price of the attack is likely higher now. That said, this becomes more feasible in the long-run when mining is purely funded by transaction fees. Something I don’t see talked about much is the fact that, although Bi…
Hey, author here - I think you're absolutely right that there is a risk that demand for blockspace doens't generate sufficient block reward to provide useful security guarantees. If that is the case, it could cause the price of BTC to fall which could create a negative feedback loop. This would, at best, create an end of the 21m cap and at worst trigger a collapse of the game entirely.
Re: BTC Endgame
#6I think under these circumstances, the economic majority of bitcoin users will fork to use, eg a new hash algorithm, rendering the seized mining farms useless. Remember, bitcoin is a collective trusted network based on agreement between users, miners and developers. If the miners turn, just switch to a set of new miners.
You mention that this wouldn't work in your article. Can you explain why?
Re: BTC Endgame
#7The linked Medium posts have a bit more content https://joekelly100.medium.com/how-to-kill-bitcoin-part-1-is... Note that this is from last July, when the price of BTC was significantly lower and thus the price of the attack is likely higher now. That said, this becomes more feasible in the long-run when mining is purely funded by transaction fees. Something I don’t see talked about much is the fact that, although Bi…
You probably mean deflation, right? In inflation the cost of goods and services are higher, because the currency is losing value.
Re: BTC Endgame
#8In the general case I don't think that majority miner attacks can be defended against without changing the hash algorithm.
Specific cases like "empty blocks" could be addressed via a hard fork.
But there's nothing stopping miners from faking transactions in blocks, sending amounts to themselves, filling the block with OP_RETURNs, or just doing the minimum possible to get around your "fix".
PoW absolutely relies on >50% of miners being honest, always has done.
Re: BTC Endgame
#9>There is currently no defense for this attack in Bitcoin, as the simulation demonstrates. The entire Bitcoin miner reward model is the defense for this attack. Nation states have powerful computers... but nowhere near as powerful as the decentralized Bitcoin mining network combined. Even if they did currently, the endgame for Bitcoin as envisioned by Satoshi Nakamoto was for everyone on the planet to be mining Bitco…
ASIC chip fabrication is centralised in China. The government could seize the means of production, as well as the centralised mining operations that they've attracted by subsidising electricity.
Re: BTC Endgame
#10For the first attack listed you'd need to be the 99% of mining power at which point the 1% could also just fork and leave you to your endeavours.