> Some predecessors, like DigiCash, were too reliant on trusted authorities and so never gained market acceptance. Aren’t bitcoin holders trusting that no authority/state actor is going to 51% attack the blockchain?
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Why there will never be another Bitcoin
11–20 of 50 posts
Re: Why there will never be another Bitcoin
#12Oh, please. Bitcoin is a protocol with no more inherent value than SMTP.
Aside from being the Catholic cryptocurrency, it has been surpassed technologically in every way by newer and better designed protocols. Why would anyone who doesn't already own Bitcoin choose to use it for anything over, ex. Ethereum?
Bitcoin maxis aren't technologists; they're grifters trying to convince you their magic beans are the most special magic beans.
Re: Why there will never be another Bitcoin
#13> Some predecessors, like DigiCash, were too reliant on trusted authorities and so never gained market acceptance. Aren’t bitcoin holders trusting that no authority/state actor is going to 51% attack the blockchain?
Off the top of my head: it seems unlikely that you can recoup the enormous investment required to get to 51% by making fraudulent transactions without anyone noticing and crashing the value of bitcoin, or agreeing to switch to a clean fork.
I'm not sure how early users tolerated this risk though.
Re: Why there will never be another Bitcoin
#14> Some predecessors, like DigiCash, were too reliant on trusted authorities and so never gained market acceptance. Aren’t bitcoin holders trusting that no authority/state actor is going to 51% attack the blockchain?
you could go further and say that bitcoin holders are trusting that no major vulnerability will be found on the network.
Re: Why there will never be another Bitcoin
#15> Some predecessors, like DigiCash, were too reliant on trusted authorities and so never gained market acceptance. Aren’t bitcoin holders trusting that no authority/state actor is going to 51% attack the blockchain?
Off the top of my head: it seems unlikely that you can recoup the enormous investment required to get to 51% by making fraudulent transactions without anyone noticing and crashing the value of bitcoin, or agreeing to switch to a clean fork. I'm not sure how early users tolerated this risk though.
A 51% attack allows you to rewrite history, which allows you to "double spend". For example, you could send funds to an exchange and withdraw them in cash, then during the attack send them to yourself instead. The amount of computer power defines how far back you can reorg the chain.
The transactions you create still have to follow protocol rules, which means you can only send funds from wallets you have the keys for - you cannot create money out of thin air, or steal funds from someone else's wallet.
Re: Why there will never be another Bitcoin
#16FWIW, love or hate Bitcoin, the 4th Bitcoin halving is happening in 9 blocks as I type this, give our take 90 mins, probably a bit less.
6 blocks ~60 minutes left.
https://www.nicehash.com/countdown/btc-halving-2024-05-10-12...
What happens to existing hardware at that point? Resold for video games? Sold to people who have cheaper electricity?
Re: Why there will never be another Bitcoin
#17Oh, please. Bitcoin is a protocol with no more inherent value than SMTP. Aside from being the Catholic cryptocurrency, it has been surpassed technologically in every way by newer and better designed protocols. Why would anyone who doesn't already own Bitcoin choose to use it for anything over, ex. Ethereum? Bitcoin maxis aren't technologists; they're grifters trying to convince you their magic beans are the most spec…
>Bitcoin maxis aren't technologists; they're grifters trying to convince you their magic beans are the most special magic beans.
Replace "bitcoin maxis" with any cryptocoin promoter and the statement remains true and equally as useless to those who refuse to consider digital coinage money.
Re: Why there will never be another Bitcoin
#18FWIW, love or hate Bitcoin, the 4th Bitcoin halving is happening in 9 blocks as I type this, give our take 90 mins, probably a bit less.
6 blocks ~60 minutes left. https://www.nicehash.com/countdown/btc-halving-2024-05-10-12... What happens to existing hardware at that point? Resold for video games? Sold to people who have cheaper electricity?
> What happens to existing hardware at that point? Resold for video games? Sold to people who have cheaper electricity?
I think some is sold to people who have cheaper electricity. Some miners shall probably also mine at a loss for a while, sitting on reserves, while smaller ones dies.
Cannot resell for video games: Bitcoin is mined using dedicated ASICs since many years. And Ethereum, the second biggest after Bitcoin, is now mined using proof-of-stake (so neither GPUs nor ASICs involved).
But in a few halvings (every four years, so in a "few halvings" I won't be here anymore) I don't understand how it'd work out: too little BTCs rewarded per block and I don't see tx fees paying the miners.
Re: Why there will never be another Bitcoin
#19> Some predecessors, like DigiCash, were too reliant on trusted authorities and so never gained market acceptance. Aren’t bitcoin holders trusting that no authority/state actor is going to 51% attack the blockchain?
Off the top of my head: it seems unlikely that you can recoup the enormous investment required to get to 51% by making fraudulent transactions without anyone noticing and crashing the value of bitcoin, or agreeing to switch to a clean fork. I'm not sure how early users tolerated this risk though.
That's potentially true if someone is trying to profit off 51% attacks.
But the true worst-case scenario is one where a coalition of governments decided to use 51% attacks as part of a plan to kill bitcoin.
They don't need to invest in mining equipment, they could just declare bitcoin as illegal and seize the biggest mining operations. It would take maybe 10 coordinated raids to grab more than 51% of rigs. Then they turn their seized mining farms towards mining a chain that rejects all transactions. Nobody would be able to move their bitcoins, other mining farms wouldn't be able to sell their coins and they would shut down from the combined threat of no revenue and potential future raids.
When combined with raids on the major exchanges to eliminate off-ramps, the value of bitcoin would crash as everyone rushed to liquidate.
And once the value of bitcoin crashes, it's much easier to continue the 51% attack, they would be able to shut down most of their rigs and leave them in reserve. You couldn't switch to a clean fork, as the government miners would just follow the fork, make their empty blocks look valid with spam transactions.
Re: Why there will never be another Bitcoin
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
6 blocks ~60 minutes left. https://www.nicehash.com/countdown/btc-halving-2024-05-10-12... What happens to existing hardware at that point? Resold for video games? Sold to people who have cheaper electricity?
> What happens to existing hardware at that point? Resold for video games? Sold to people who have cheaper electricity? I think some is sold to people who have cheaper electricity. Some miners shall probably also mine at a loss for a while, sitting on reserves, while smaller ones dies. Cannot resell for video games: Bitcoin is mined using dedicated ASICs since many years. And Ethereum, the second biggest after Bitcoi…
> I don't understand how it'd work out: too little BTCs rewarded per block
The math only works out if value of bitcoin continues to increase in value, at least a constant 25% annual return, year after year (on top of inflation).
If the price of bitcoin ever stabilises (or worse, drops) over the long term, then the security of bitcoin will go down, until eventually it becomes viable for someone to launch a 51% attack.