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Bitcoin hash-rate exceeds total computing power of all the world’s computers

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Re: Bitcoin hash-rate exceeds total computing power of all the world’s computers

#21

Post by dasil003 »

Nursie wrote: post #19
OmarIsmail wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mining is what makes the bitcoin network secure. The higher the hashrate, the more secure the bitcoin network. As I mentioned in another comment, if you compare the resources required to secure the bitcoin network vs the resources required to secure any other financial networks, it's miniscule.

It's only required because of the decentralisation fetish of coiners. Perfectly secure systems exist that don't require this lunacy.

First of all, there's no such thing as a perfectly secure system, second of all, you tar people who are interested in decentralization at your own peril. The type of power that is being consolidated in multinational corporations is greater than anything that's ever existed in the history of the world. If we don't want to wake up as serfs one day we should be taking decentralization and other technological democratic aids seriously while we have the chance.

Re: Bitcoin hash-rate exceeds total computing power of all the world’s computers

#22

Post by rtpg »

throwaway_yy2Di wrote: post #7

This isn't the completely worthless observation it appears (like, for example, the snarky retort that Babbage's difference engine outpowers all the world's Bitcoin ASICs put together, on a decimal arithmetic benchmark). The Bitcoin ASIC network is a modest amount of equipment: in dollars, watts, or transistors, about the size of a one supercomputer from the TOP500. So this really underscores that general-purpose PCs…

I think it underscores more that general-purpose PCs are terrible at single-task programs.

Re: Bitcoin hash-rate exceeds total computing power of all the world’s computers

#23

Post by MiWCryptohn »

ck2 wrote: post #16

I was thinking the other day, let's say someone operating the bitcoin network wanted to crack a specific AES256 code - couldn't they try to use the network to insert that into different blocks with different difficulties to try to get the network to crack it for them? Or it doesn't work quite that way? Would be interesting fiction (ala Cory Doctorow style) if say the NSA created a crypto-currency to make everyone els…

Doesn't work that way, bitcoin proof of work uses SHA256 twice, which is of limited value. It gives you a near collision to a double hash. It's burning energy for work.

Re: Bitcoin hash-rate exceeds total computing power of all the world’s computers

#24

Post by aninhumer »

ck2 wrote: post #16

I was thinking the other day, let's say someone operating the bitcoin network wanted to crack a specific AES256 code - couldn't they try to use the network to insert that into different blocks with different difficulties to try to get the network to crack it for them? Or it doesn't work quite that way? Would be interesting fiction (ala Cory Doctorow style) if say the NSA created a crypto-currency to make everyone els…

>Or it doesn't work quite that way?

No, the work done is very specific. It's hard to imagine a usecase where it would be useful to take advantage of it.

Re: Bitcoin hash-rate exceeds total computing power of all the world’s computers

#25

Post by MiWCryptohn »

Helianthus wrote: post #8

What a waste of time. I haven't given too much weight to criticism of Bitcoin's use of computing resources--there's enough low-hanging fruit--but this is actually somehow reprehensible.

Hardly a waste of time. You haven't seen this for what it truly is; a waste of time is your cash sitting in a clearinghouse for days before going overseas. a waste of time is any value transaction that takes more than minutes on a global scale. A waste of time is when the authorities freeze your accounts and cancel your cards. Cryptocurrency solves these problems and more.

Re: Bitcoin hash-rate exceeds total computing power of all the world’s computers

#26

Post by sickpig »

Nursie wrote: post #19
OmarIsmail wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mining is what makes the bitcoin network secure. The higher the hashrate, the more secure the bitcoin network. As I mentioned in another comment, if you compare the resources required to secure the bitcoin network vs the resources required to secure any other financial networks, it's miniscule.

It's only required because of the decentralisation fetish of coiners. Perfectly secure systems exist that don't require this lunacy.

Decentralization is needed if you want bitcoin to be censorship-resistant.

Re: Bitcoin hash-rate exceeds total computing power of all the world’s computers

#28

Post by MiWCryptohn »

MiWCryptohn wrote: post #23
ck2 wrote: post #16

I was thinking the other day, let's say someone operating the bitcoin network wanted to crack a specific AES256 code - couldn't they try to use the network to insert that into different blocks with different difficulties to try to get the network to crack it for them? Or it doesn't work quite that way? Would be interesting fiction (ala Cory Doctorow style) if say the NSA created a crypto-currency to make everyone els…

Doesn't work that way, bitcoin proof of work uses SHA256 twice, which is of limited value. It gives you a near collision to a double hash. It's burning energy for work.

One could make a case that the use of sha256 would drive down the cost of comodity ASICs, enabling a well resourced attacker to use mining hardware 'off-label' to find sha256 hash collisions. Same goes for scrypt, with the adoption of its use as a password store.

Re: Bitcoin hash-rate exceeds total computing power of all the world’s computers

#29

Post by datphp »

Nursie wrote: post #19
OmarIsmail wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mining is what makes the bitcoin network secure. The higher the hashrate, the more secure the bitcoin network. As I mentioned in another comment, if you compare the resources required to secure the bitcoin network vs the resources required to secure any other financial networks, it's miniscule.

It's only required because of the decentralisation fetish of coiners. Perfectly secure systems exist that don't require this lunacy.

They aren't perfectly secured. They seem secure for two reasons:

Try to hack a bank, or exploit credit cards, or even break in a vault, and you'll see what kind of external measures governments and private agencies put into protecting the system (hint: you'll get locked forever, or shot, or worse)

Now imagine you succeed, and somehow don't leave any exploitable trail, do you think a story will pop somewhere? I don't.

Centralized money systems are the reason today, what you make in a month working 16 hours a day in some country will buy you a drink in another. This allows rich countries to straight up buyout any poor country's production, and for trivial amounts. It leaves them in a state where people are starving, even though they produce enough to feed 10x their population.

Imagine a world where a bag of rice costs the same in every country. Yeah, currencies are awesome.

Edit: just to be clear, I'm not saying rich countries are evil(er), because this would not work without the cooperation of poor countries leadership.

Re: Bitcoin hash-rate exceeds total computing power of all the world’s computers

#30

Post by celticninja »

Nursie wrote: post #19
OmarIsmail wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mining is what makes the bitcoin network secure. The higher the hashrate, the more secure the bitcoin network. As I mentioned in another comment, if you compare the resources required to secure the bitcoin network vs the resources required to secure any other financial networks, it's miniscule.

It's only required because of the decentralisation fetish of coiners. Perfectly secure systems exist that don't require this lunacy.

first of all perfectly secure systems do not exist. but lets say for a minute you mean visa or mastercard are perfectly secure, do you think that the electricity use of the bitcoin network exceeds the electricity use of VISA all over the world? They run their own always on computer network and offices, which need people and computers that require electricity to be able to function properly. Then factor in that this is repeated in almost every country they operate in, sometimes more than once depending on the size of the country. So the electricity use of bitcoin is just a drop int he ocean compared to what the current banking industry uses.
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