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Title: How I learned to stop worrying and love the 51% attack. Post by: cbeast on December 10, 2011, 01:25:39 PM The fear mongering surrounding the 51% threat reminds me of the cold war. "Duck and cover" so the nuclear blast would not harm you. You can always pull the covers over your face so the bogeyman won't get you. Seriously, yes nuclear bombs are real and have been used. They may be used again someday, but civilization goes on. We've devised preventative measure to deter such threats. The same can be done with Bitcoin.
There are alert measures available in the protocol. IP addresses can be traced to nodes. There are many real world tactics for mitigating the 51% threat. Besides, even if someone has 51%, they can simply make more mining than anyone else without fear of retaliation. When Bitcoin becomes a viable currency, there will be real world terrorist counter-measures developed to deter such actions. If threats escalate, so can deterrence. Nothing is off the table. Hyperbole, yes... Serious, not sure... Kubrick inspired, certainly... Title: Re: How I learned to stop worrying and love the 51% attack. Post by: ElectricMucus on December 10, 2011, 03:48:13 PM I never began worrying about it in the first place, and I can't see why now. The only real threat could be an internal one, like if significant amount of people reject the planned reduction of the block reward next year.
Title: Re: How I learned to stop worrying and love the 51% attack. Post by: MysteryMiner on December 11, 2011, 01:41:41 AM If they reject the block reward reduction, they will shoot themselves in a feet. The bitcoins will lose the value gradually, and after some time the 50 BTC reward will be worth less than 25 BTC reward, if the thing will continue as Satoshi laid out in his whitepaper. Will they increase reward to 100 or maybe 200 BTC in a future? This will lead to exponential inflation, just like real world fiat money.
Do I worry about 51% attack? No. The lulz will last for a few days maximum. They will not steal my coins, all they can do is double spend and denial of service, that's all. They will switch to profit after lulz ends. Title: Re: How I learned to stop worrying and love the 51% attack. Post by: cbeast on December 11, 2011, 01:45:58 AM If they reject the block reward reduction, they will shoot themselves in a feet. The bitcoins will lose the value gradually, and after some time the 50 BTC reward will be worth less than 25 BTC reward, if the thing will continue as Satoshi laid out in his whitepaper. Will they increase reward to 100 or maybe 200 BTC in a future? This will lead to exponential inflation, just like real world fiat money. Do I worry about 51% attack? No. The lulz will last for a few days maximum. They will not steal my coins, all they can do is double spend and denial of service, that's all. They will switch to profit after lulz ends. If we can get their IP address, maybe we can get their GPS coordinates and launch a retributive bag of burning dog poo on their porch. Title: Re: How I learned to stop worrying and love the 51% attack. Post by: westkybitcoins on December 11, 2011, 02:58:30 AM If they reject the block reward reduction, they will shoot themselves in a feet. The bitcoins will lose the value gradually, and after some time the 50 BTC reward will be worth less than 25 BTC reward, if the thing will continue as Satoshi laid out in his whitepaper. Will they increase reward to 100 or maybe 200 BTC in a future? This will lead to exponential inflation, just like real world fiat money. Do I worry about 51% attack? No. The lulz will last for a few days maximum. They will not steal my coins, all they can do is double spend and denial of service, that's all. They will switch to profit after lulz ends. If we can get their IP address, maybe we can get their GPS coordinates and launch a retributive bag of burning dog poo on their porch. Apparently that bag will have to reach China. :( Title: Re: How I learned to stop worrying and love the 51% attack. Post by: BadBear on December 11, 2011, 06:06:21 AM If they reject the block reward reduction, they will shoot themselves in a feet. Greed makes people do irrational things, clouds their perspective. Title: Re: How I learned to stop worrying and love the 51% attack. Post by: Gabi on December 11, 2011, 01:25:35 PM If they reject the block reward reduction, they will shoot themselves in a feet. The bitcoins will lose the value gradually, and after some time the 50 BTC reward will be worth less than 25 BTC reward, if the thing will continue as Satoshi laid out in his whitepaper. Will they increase reward to 100 or maybe 200 BTC in a future? This will lead to exponential inflation, just like real world fiat money. Do I worry about 51% attack? No. The lulz will last for a few days maximum. They will not steal my coins, all they can do is double spend and denial of service, that's all. They will switch to profit after lulz ends. If we can get their IP address, maybe we can get their GPS coordinates and launch a retributive bag of burning dog poo on their porch. http://s3.amazonaws.com/kym-assets/entries/icons/original/000/001/461/Good_Luck_I_m_Behind_7_Proxies.jpg?1260213241 |
