Bitcoin is still early

[CordMcNally]

in my basic understanding every transaction gets linked on/to? the blockchain so it cant be undone once its checked. But it gets checked by all the other users (like checking or breaking a code) to make sure its correct, then becomes permanent. Every future transaction follows that "new" blockchain. So if someone has 51% of the bitcoin, in theory they can make "fake" transactions- if 51% of those checking it say the blockchain is correct, then it becomes permanently written into the blockchain.

I guess my question is, with it being public and decentralized, how would it prevent something like this from happening if evil forces band together? Or am I completely mistaken in how the blockchain works?

I think you're mistaken in how it works. They would have to control the entire network and, as of now, that's impossible. Owning 51% of bitcoin is not the same as owning 51% of the network.

https://www.cfainstitute.org/-/media/documents/article/rf-brief/rfbr-cryptoassets.ashx

[billy]

I think you're mistaken in how it works. They would have to control the entire network and, as of now, that's impossible. Owning 51% of bitcoin is not the same as owning 51% of the network.

https://www.cfainstitute.org/-/media...ptoassets.ashx

thanks for the clarification

[chucki]

In theory, if somebody has 51% of the hash rate they can change the protocol. It's not an impossibility, but given how decentralized BTC is, there is probably a greater chance that you will get struck by lightning multiple times and survive it. Black swan events like a nuclear winter completely shutting down the Internet could destroy your holdings -- but then we will all have much larger problems.

[Outdoors]

In theory, if somebody has 51% of the hash rate they can change the protocol. It's not an impossibility, but given how decentralized BTC is, there is probably a greater chance that you will get struck by lightning multiple times and survive it. Black swan events like a nuclear winter completely shutting down the Internet could destroy your holdings -- but then we will all have much larger problems.

This is where I see one of the potential "deep risks" of Bitcoin. I think that no criminal/profit motivated group would try to disrupt Bitcoin because if even possible, it would cost billions of dollars of computing power and energy usage, and then the value of Bitcoin would crash, so there's no profit motive to destroy it. The potential is a State actor trying to intentionally change the blockchain. I think only China or Russia would even have the resources to do it, and even then it might not be technically possible. It's been going along so far for over a decade, but there's enough risk that I certainly wouldn't invest my entire portfolio.

The other deep risk I think is more likely is governments banning private ownership of cryptocurrency. They can't directly prevent you from buying Bitcoin online, but they can make it illegal to do so, which would make it harder to ever use the money. Just this past week the world's largest democracy, India, has said it's considering outlawing all cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is a direct threat to central banks being able to print money without consequences. So it's not inconceivable that a government would try to outlaw it.

Still, I think that the more institutional players adopt Bitcoin, the more network effects it has. It's like the more people adopt it, the lower the risk becomes that the US would outlaw it, especially when lots of Congressional donors and average voters own Bitcoin.

[Dusn]

This is where I see one of the potential "deep risks" of Bitcoin. I think that no criminal/profit motivated group would try to disrupt Bitcoin because if even possible, it would cost billions of dollars of computing power and energy usage, and then the value of Bitcoin would crash, so there's no profit motive to destroy it. The potential is a State actor trying to intentionally change the blockchain. I think only China or Russia would even have the resources to do it, and even then it might not be technically possible. It's been going along so far for over a decade, but there's enough risk that I certainly wouldn't invest my entire portfolio.

The other deep risk I think is more likely is governments banning private ownership of cryptocurrency. They can't directly prevent you from buying Bitcoin online, but they can make it illegal to do so, which would make it harder to ever use the money. Just this past week the world's largest democracy, India, has said it's considering outlawing all cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is a direct threat to central banks being able to print money without consequences. So it's not inconceivable that a government would try to outlaw it.

Still, I think that the more institutional players adopt Bitcoin, the more network effects it has. It's like the more people adopt it, the lower the risk becomes that the US would outlaw it, especially when lots of Congressional donors and average voters own Bitcoin.

Besides the printing money part, Aren’t there many threats that most govt would not like? Being able to pay for illegal activities anonymously, and not paying taxes. Those illegal activities can encompass many things including illegal drug shipments through the mail, child pornography, kidnapping, assassinations, terrorism, buying stolen personal and financial information, holding hospital EMRs ransom etc.

I’m surprised governments haven’t tried to shut down crypto already.

[chucki]

More illegal activities are conducted in the USD than BTC in both relative and absolute terms. If cash was invented now, it would be banned by the government. If some states ban btc, others will open their doors, welcoming in the influx of capital. I think it is becoming entrenched. The time to ban it was 5-6 years ago. So far, the US government has been very welcoming towards it.

[fatlittlepig]

I bought some doggy coin, lite coin, eth along with Bitcoin. Who knows maybe the 4 cent doggy in ten years will be worth a few bucks.

[xraygoggles]

I bought some doggy coin, lite coin, eth along with Bitcoin. Who knows maybe the 4 cent doggy in ten years will be worth a few bucks.

Dogecoin is everyone's favorite coin. However, keep this in mind: it was developed as a joke, to make fun of the explosion in alt-coins at that time. Satire. It also inflates continuously, the complete opposite of Bitcoin. If you want to hold Dogecoin, just buy low and sell at a pump. Elon likes to pump it, amongst other memelords.

I bought a few million in Nov and made 20x last week (6 figures) when it landed on the moon. Dumped near the top, now waiting for it to stabilize back down. Just some pointers from a veteran Dogecoin holder.

[fatlittlepig]

Dogecoin is everyone's favorite coin. However, keep this in mind: it was developed as a joke, to make fun of the explosion in alt-coins at that time. Satire. It also inflates continuously, the complete opposite of Bitcoin. If you want to hold Dogecoin, just buy low and sell at a pump. Elon likes to pump it, amongst other memelords.

I bought a few million in Nov and made 20x last week (6 figures) when it landed on the moon. Dumped near the top, now waiting for it to stabilize back down. Just some pointers from a veteran Dogecoin holder.

Good job doggy

[CordMcNally]

Police seize $60 million of bitcoin! Now, where's the password? | Reuters

This is actually pretty funny. The title is incorrect because they haven't seized anything. They just pretend like they did. I don't understand the last sentence, though.

"Prosecutors have ensured the man cannot access the largesse, however."

I don't believe this is true.

[xraygoggles]

Cool site, shows all the companies that currently own Bitcoin in their reserves.

https://bitcointreasuries.org/

Let's see how this page looks at the end of 2021. It may be 5x or 10x the amount of companies.

[East coast]

Police seize $60 million of bitcoin! Now, where's the password? | Reuters

This is actually pretty funny. The title is incorrect because they haven't seized anything. They just pretend like they did. I don't understand the last sentence, though.

"Prosecutors have ensured the man cannot access the largesse, however."

I don't believe this is true.

Presumably they actually did seize the actual server/hard drive that the wallet/coins sit on. At least that's my understanding of the smart way to go about storage. Remove it from the interwebs so you can prevent hacking - that literally might just mean storing it on a thumb drive.

[East coast]

Presumably they actually did seize the actual server/hard drive that the wallet/coins sit on. At least that's my understanding of the smart way to go about storage. Remove it from the interwebs so you can prevent hacking - that literally might just mean storing it on a thumb drive.

Also, this is a funny aspect of bitcoin - ppl literally keep 'losing' or forgetting passwords on their bitcoins (like the guy who has $200m in bitcoin in a landfill). Since bitcoin is supposed to be finite (ish) shouldn't the theory be that they become more and more scarce until there no bitcoin left? To bad there aren't other (better) options to store my wealth....

[CordMcNally]

Presumably they actually did seize the actual server/hard drive that the wallet/coins sit on. At least that's my understanding of the smart way to go about storage. Remove it from the interwebs so you can prevent hacking - that literally might just mean storing it on a thumb drive.

Even if they have the server or hard drive they don’t have the Bitcoins. They’re stored on the blockchain and you can’t confiscate that. As long as he has his seed phrase and they don’t, they’re still his.

[Kamban]

Even if they have the server or hard drive they don’t have the Bitcoins. They’re stored on the blockchain and you can’t confiscate that. As long as he has his seed phrase and they don’t, they’re still his.

Can that hard drive wallet be copied on to another hard drive and put away? Then the police just have an useless non-password wallet on a hard drive and he has another wallet and the password.