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Title: When 50-75 people control 90% of Bitcoin supply, has it ever been decentralized Post by: solid12345 on June 15, 2014, 07:17:01 PM This is the elephant in the room no one likes to discuss, alot is made about ghash gaining control of 51% of the hash rate, but what about the elite few who actually own all the Bitcoins? Are we not equally at their mercy as the big mining pools?
Title: Re: When 50-75 people control 90% of Bitcoin supply, has it ever been decentralized Post by: ljudotina on June 15, 2014, 07:26:42 PM This is the elephant in the room no one likes to discuss, alot is made about ghash gaining control of 51% of the hash rate, but what about the elite few who actually own all the Bitcoins? Are we not equally at their mercy as the big mining pools? We are. They can, if they choose, drop down price to whatever level they want (by selling huge quantities of BTC on open market). But, doing so would damage "them" more than it would damage "us", so it's kinda self healing / reapiring system. Not many are willing to commit economic suicide "just for funs". Title: Re: When 50-75 people control 90% of Bitcoin supply, has it ever been decentralized Post by: Beliathon on June 15, 2014, 08:08:53 PM This is the elephant in the room no one likes to discuss, alot is made about ghash gaining control of 51% of the hash rate, but what about the elite few who actually own all the Bitcoins? Are we not equally at their mercy as the big mining pools? We are. They can, if they choose, drop down price to whatever level they want (by selling huge quantities of BTC on open market). But, doing so would damage "them" more than it would damage "us", so it's kinda self healing / reapiring system. Title: Re: When 50-75 people control 90% of Bitcoin supply, has it ever been decentralized Post by: Cicero2.0 on June 15, 2014, 08:15:39 PM I seriously doubt that large holders would be irrational enough to hurt themselves financially. What would they gain from it? It is their interest that bitcoin does well.
I am sure there are some that would try to manipulate the market by dumping so they can buy at a lower price but that happens in all markets. Title: Re: When 50-75 people control 90% of Bitcoin supply, has it ever been decentralized Post by: Melbustus on June 15, 2014, 08:38:57 PM Umm... Where did you get those numbers? (Current thread title is: "When 50-75 people control 90% of Bitcoin supply, has it ever been decentralized".)
Are you just fudding, or are you quoting (or misquoting) some number you heard somewhere? The thread with the most research on this topic is here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=316297.0 From that thread: "100,000 owners with BTC10-BTC2,000 ($5,000-$1,000,000) hold 50% of the bitcoins." Title: Re: When 50-75 people control 90% of Bitcoin supply, has it ever been decentralized Post by: S4VV4S on June 15, 2014, 08:45:09 PM Umm... Where did you get those numbers? (Current thread title is: "When 50-75 people control 90% of Bitcoin supply, has it ever been decentralized".) Are you just fudding, or are you quoting (or misquoting) some number you heard somewhere? The thread with the most research on this topic is here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=316297.0 From that thread: "100,000 owners with BTC10-BTC2,000 ($5,000-$1,000,000) hold 50% of the bitcoins." You are forgetting that Satoshi alone holds around 1.5m BTC. Where does he fit in? Title: Re: When 50-75 people control 90% of Bitcoin supply, has it ever been decentralized Post by: Willisius on June 15, 2014, 09:40:36 PM Not technically, but in an economical sense, we are "at the mercy," so to speak, of anyone who holds so much. The good news - for holders - is that people are very greedy, so they probably act (with no regulation) in whatever manner they can to drive the value of their investment up. The bad news - for Bitcoin itself - is that its "true" value as a store of wealth is concealed by this behavior.
Title: Re: When 50-75 people control 90% of Bitcoin supply, has it ever been decentralized Post by: beetcoin on June 15, 2014, 09:42:14 PM Not technically, but in an economical sense, we are "at the mercy," so to speak, of anyone who holds so much. The good news - for holders - is that people are very greedy, so they probably act (with no regulation) in whatever manner they can to drive the value of their investment up. The bad news - for Bitcoin itself - is that its "true" value as a store of wealth is concealed by this behavior. it's not just driving the price up. you can make money by speculating and driving it down, then buy them up and push them back to their original value. Title: Re: When 50-75 people control 90% of Bitcoin supply, has it ever been decentralized Post by: SomethingElse on June 15, 2014, 10:32:17 PM That is why I like NEM
Title: Re: When 50-75 people control 90% of Bitcoin supply, has it ever been decentralized Post by: FlowerMatt on June 16, 2014, 03:38:11 AM If all the structure is made on a good basis it can be decentralized even with their 'contol'
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