Bitcoin Forum

Can a blockchain system be destroyed?

Destroyed how? You have to be more specific than that.

By what means, during what time period, etc. Because, eventually everything will be destroyed, including our planet, solar system, galaxy...

Nothing lasts forever. So please, explain your thoughts a little bit more.

If you have control over 50% of the nodes then it can be hacked. But Blockchain is not centralized. The ledger is distributed across nodes all over the world. So practically it is impossible to hack blockchain. But I've heard that a quantum computer may hack the blockchain system. I have to study it more in order to understand the quantum computing process.

Another possibility you can find in different online threads is a large scale DoS attack that takes down the internet and consequently all miners. With no miners, well, obviously bitcoin would be dead as no validations would be made and no new blocks would be created. Again, this is hard to truly visualize as it would mean the end of the internet as a whole.

can not, blockchain is a digital technology where until now only blockchain that can make all transactions really transparent
I am very much waiting for the implementation of blockchain across all industries and business models in the world

If you ask for my oppinion, I think for bitcoin to gain global accpetance a few regulations has to be implemented by different governments. The government have always seen bitcoins has a threat to the global financial system, so therefore they won't rest until they succeed in regulating it.

I think it is practically impossible to destroy blockchain. If you cut out all the power supply from the world the miners wont be able to generate new blocks in the chain but the meshes will remain same. It will not function but still will be live.

The blockchain is an immutable database with many nodes. If someone wants to destroy the blockchain based system, he has to destroy all master node other than that it could be recovered from other remaining nodes. If some want to manipulate data in blockchain base system in as he wants, he wants a very powerful node that powerful than all power of the all other nodes.

Its a decentralized system where the ledger is distributed across the nodes around the world. If anyone want to hack the system he need to get access to the master nodes of the ledger but practically it is impossible.

A few "regulations" put forward by governments should be implemented in bitcoin?
This should not happen and will not happen.

How do you really mean by destroyed? Are you talking of hacking? Off course that is very possible but for destruction of blockchain and its data uttered, I don't think so.

Well there are a few ways to destroy a blockchain. One of the ways is through double attack, where more than 51% of the hash power is controlled by a single person and he uses it maliciously to reject or accept blocks he wants. Then there is the fear of quantum computers breaking the crypto.

Blockchain system can be destroyed? I think it is not! it is like a malware now infected all computers around the world and the only one thing that can stop it is the internet, if internet will shutdown then the blockchain also and that's not gonna happen.

The only way i can see a blockchain being destroyed is if all mining stopped for long enough
for peoples computers to be so old they are replaced and that blockchain is long forgotten or
if the internet was permanently shut down.

Even if mining temporarily stopped as soon as it starts again block creation will resume from
where it stopped.

A blockchain technology cannot be destroyed.It is decentralized and no one has control over it. Thus no matter how much anyone tried to, they can never be able to tamper with the system

The blockchain is like a sneak with many heads. More than in tales that you read when you were younger.
I won't say it is impossible, but you would need a lot to do accomplish such thing.

doesnt need 50% of nodes.
august 1st proved that the protocol can change without 95% of miner support and without 50% of node support.

simply mandating a date that blocks will be rejected on august 1st was enough to change the protocol even when pools did not even update their software. they were blindly told all they had to do was change a 'message' in a version number to act like compliance. and bam. the network changed even though the network was not at the time using the new rules.

for instance after 2 years of promoting segwit. and 10 months since the mandated date. BTCC pool is stil too afraid to put its block reward on segwit keys
https://blockchain.info/block/000000000000000000213def61fb6432460b24ac109f6c8c7276b3efab31c251

Blockchain can not be hacked but it can be 51% attack, you can not hack blocks itself but you can control the validation  of blocks which means you can upload cheating blocks against the chain and double spend ect.. ..
As for quantum computer they can not do anything to blocks but they are  related to wallets and hacking ( private keys ) .

Destroyed, how so? There are only a few types of destruction I can see for blockchain-powered systems, and probably the most damaging one would be destroying its integrity by means of tampering the chain, or the 51% attack that most people are aware of. Due to the nature of this attack, any record that a blockchain keeps up to a certain event, until a 'split' occurs in the network, is credible and trusty, but when a certain group reaches 51% control of the network, they will have the power to write whatever they want on the end of the chain and possibly rejecting whatever is submitted to them to be a part of a chain. When people find out about such an event, they will lose trust in the chain and eventually, in the system. There's also the Sybil attack in which a single entity can present themselves as multiple ones, potentially damaging the integrity of the chain by 'taking' data or 'adding' data that is meant to be done by a single entity. Because of this, a single entity creating multiple identities in order to submit his piece on the chain might cause problems in the future if people find it out in the future. Luckily though, most blockchain-powered systems by then would be centralized, and these scenarios I talked about usually happens in a P2P decentralized systems which are prone to such attacks since anyone can join in the party.

Blochain system are very stronger in this situation so we cannot destroy the system very easy why I'm saying this it had a lot of uses so they cannot make any losses for blockchain technology I hope Bitcoin will be the world currency soon.

Right, just like Bitcoin Gold had someone execute a 50% attack recently and steal $17 million in BTC...

It's not magic. The system has its attack vectors as well.

Well there are a few ways to destroy a blockchain. One of the ways is through double attack, where more than 51% of the hash power is controlled by a single person and he uses it maliciously to reject or accept blocks he wants.

I'm sure that BTC is very secure and it's difficult to destroy it. In my opinion only powerful hackers can make problems and destroy it. But there are few chances

Decentralized medium cannot be controlled by anyone with the power, government or anyone. I see many people misunderstood the marketplace value and blockchain system in one hand comparision these are really need to check with the security side alone.
If you do then you will not get the doubt says blockchain destroyed.

If I put it this way, can bitcoin be destroyed? then I can say NO. Blockchain technology is not the mainstream technology that can be altered or destroyed. If it can, I believe hackers would have tried long time to disrupt cryptocurrency.

I see a lot of people talking about 51% attack here.
I don't think that attack should be considered a "destruction of a blockchain system".

Destruction of a blockchain system would be something that either destroys every copy of the blockchain or make it impossible for a blockchain to exist in future. I can't imagine anything that would be able to achieve such a thing.

Destroyed is overrated that's not possible in my opinion for this system was built against any form or type hack.. I believe and remain positive about the blockchain security

the blocking system has already been strongly entrenched in society and dinners will be very problematic

I try to understand her question, and the point is whether this blockchain could be destroyed like a computer or like any other item that could be destroyed.

and I think, blockchain will not be destroyed, but blockchain will be obsolete if many people leave it. will not work and will die.

A proof-of-work blockchain cannot be destroyed. Nodes follow the best (valid most-work) chain. They won't follow a weaker chain (e.g. one that erases the ledger). And their copies of the blockchain are globally distributed so they can't be "deleted." You can hard fork to a new empty ledger, but that will still leave the old fork intact -- anyone can run a node and pick up where it left off.

In contrast, a proof-of-stake blockchain can be destroyed. All it takes is for 51% of staking validators to collude in destroying the ledger. This can be remedied with centralization by hard-coding checkpoints into future versions, but there are two problems: 1) that requires a high level of centralization and thwarts the purpose of decentralized consensus, and 2) all ledger history past the last hard-coded checkpoint is always at risk of deletion. This is one of the reasons why POS is fundamentally less secure -- or more centralized, or both -- than POW.

Although many have used this system nowadays, but in fact the blockchain system has not been implemented and accepted by each country. so it is likely to be destroyed when the ban becomes complete and no one is using it. but it feels very difficult.

Blockchain system can not be destroyed but Blockchain system can stop if all devices that control the system can no longer be used. That's in my opinion.

Blockchain cannot be destroyed simply because it has what almost everything any organization or person need,the decentralized nature, fast and efficient transaction,transperency,blockchain can only be advanced..

Im not that expert about blockchain since this is very technical and advanced but im surely know theres no impossible in this world so when we say Can Be destroyed so yes it can be but with the hardest way because satoshi nakamoto created this with high security and greatest technology that has been made by human history(wayback 2009 when this blockchain cime to reality)

The data in the blockchain cannot be modified and cannot be deleted. The only thing that can be done is to deploy a new contract, but the new contract corresponds to a new address. The code in the new address cannot manipulate the data in the old contract account.
The nodes of the blockchain are distributed all over the world. To completely destroy the blockchain system, you can only shut down the Internet in the world!

Various attacks have happened on various currencies. Both cryptonote based as well as traditional Bitcoin based ones. Mining attacks or exploits happen to. It's not invulnerable.

Attempts by large financial and credit institutions to curb the blockchain are trivial, and centralized analogues of digital assets, resolved in the form of state crypto-currencies, are likely to not be able to compete with decentralized digital assets.

No it can not be destroyed but It can be dis functioned I think. If all the miners stop their mining or something happen that causes electricity off to entire world then how will the transaction work.

can not, because the blockchain system is a very powerful and very influential system in bitcoin and only blockchain that can make all tranksaksi so really real and looks very clear

I don't think so. IT-specialists are working hard to make blockchain unbreakable.

You'd need a worldwide EMP to achieve that. How would you destroy or disable every computer with a full node at the same time? Probably the only possible way would be to introduce a virus into the blockchain, but how would you make people use the altered, infected software without noticing. I'm not a coder so I wouldn't, but there are many smarter people than me. For every smart programmer that makes viruses there's another that works on isolating and destroying those viruses.

hypothetically, it is possible. But the main point of a blockchain is its decentralization, that makes a blockchain invulnerable to the threats of break downs.

blockchain is decentralized and no one has control over it so it cannot be destroy,i think its only possible if internet permanently shut down

Well if you have a 51% attack you could control the network therefore easily destroying a blockchain. Bitcoin Gold got attacked recently and if it can happen to a currency that big, hypothetically if can happen to almost any currency (excluding Bitcoin obviously ;)).

There will be a possibility that it will be destroyed because it is just a programme , inthe world of digital nothing can not be conquered , but there are also programme that supports the main , that will guard from the destruction, anything can happen in this digital world, because we are in advance technology ,people are always creating new programmes.

It is impossible to destroy it or manipulate this kind of technology maybe it can but only them the block chain to stop it but if we say other people it's impassible to destroy it you need more analysis more knowledge about it and it can affect other people as will who are involve in the  block chain.

I do not understand what you mean by extinction. A system without miners automatically disappears. But if you are talking about sabotaging as malicious. As the number of miners increases, it also becomes harder to go.

Not at the moment. This is why so many type of business want that technology to have more security.

This only applies to blockchains based on proof-of-work (where nodes follow the valid chain with most cumulative work).

Blockchains based on proof-of-stake can always be destroyed if 51% of validators agree to wipe out all ledger history. POS protocols can include centralized checkpoints as a protection from this constant threat, but that thwarts the very idea of decentralized consensus...

No never block chain system is the most secure system it never destroyed . its a decentralized system so its impossible to be destroy .

Blockchain was designed for a decentralized distribution in other words no such an entity can own the majority of the blockchain to prevent overload attack or what we called the 51% attack node. Blockchain is still vulnerable but decentralization is the main feature to make it more secure. According to the sources it can be decrypted from time being.Here is the story :
https://www.ccn.com/renowned-geopolitical-analyst-says-blockchains-will-be-decrypted-eventually/

Can Garry Glitter music or Boy George music ever be destroyed because someone is bound to keep a copy
and I suspect Elton John will be added to that list once he does a jimmy savel and croaks it if what i am told is true.

Good music the lot of them but like Bitcoin they leave a bitter taste.

The only thing I see that can destroy Blockchain technology is the trust issues, a lot of news about hacking the blockchain technology of some well known coins, So I think this can be a big problem if its continue to spread in the future. Technically, we can't destroy Blockchain because its backed-up by a good system so it means this will stay with us for good.

Blockchain itself is enarly imposible for some individual to hack it or modify some things into the network unless he/she has 80% of the running nodes to modify them. Bitcoin was really made tough. Dont worry about it.

You made my day bro hahahha.

Destroy the technology of blockchain it is impossible and nobody needs this technology of the future, which simplifies and provides security for many processes, so I do not see any reason for destruction

Well in this case it's not anything like the blockchain being destroyed as much as it's about people losing money by being on the wrong fork temporarily. In this case and probably most cases it ends up being exchanges, since they're of course the biggest target.

You can destroy almost everything in this world,but..nothing disappears without a trace or appears out of nowhere.The law of conservation of energy,remember?

we all know that bitcoin is a great currency to invest in . But let us not forget that there are other uprising tokens that also need an attenTION.
 I suggest that you have to invest on LEDU token or Education token because there will be a bull market in the coming months. So dont miss this chance!

it can be destroyed only if you take down every node and every miner of the network...
so, theoretically it can be destroyed but practically not!!!
blockchains are pretty safe from this point of view!!!

no blockchain system cant be destroyed, even if all country in the world banned blockchain, the blockchain system will be still exists in the world, and I think it still be the good system for right now and we hope all things in the future is using blockchain for their system

I completely agree with you, bitkoyn will give out on the maximum result, you can give an example: earlier years, when he had nothing in fact, but now? Thank you.

clearly there are many ways to carry out attacks on the blockchain network but for now the technology is very limited, what worries me in the near future is attacks made with quantum computers.

The technological revolution does not happen overnight. Blockchain technology is still in its infancy and many of its elements still need to be improved. Supporters of cryptocurrency believe that it will completely replace banks. Others think that blockchain technology will complement traditional financial infrastructure, making it more efficient and omnipotent. Destroying the system can really prohibit the use of cryptocurrencies. Physically this is not feasible ....

Nuclear weapons are the answer.  Simply exterminate the humans.

Its a question ,NO NO.blockchain system can't be destroyed in any form. blockchain has come to be and it will serve the future as i know.blockchain technology is rest assured for the future.

In what way would this destruction be? In general terms I believe not! I don't have technical training, but why would you want to destroy something that was built to optimize destruction? The blockchain is currently secure, although it is not safe in the current mold, do you understand?

There's no way to destroy the blockchain system if you are only implying to someone that can basically destroy it without using a massive destruction force.

Decoding, decrypting or anything to make the blockchain system broken isn't possible for now. But there are ways to slow it down but still not a way to destroy it.

I do not think that  blockchain system can be destroyed because it is a digital technology and it is only blockchain that can smoothly make l transactions really transparent

I agree with your point about the question. It was created for that, to become a very safety. But it is always some percent of it can be closed or destroyed as a result of a human motion.

The blockchain is an unchanging database with numerous hubs. In the event that somebody needs to pulverize the blockchain based framework, he needs to demolish all ace hub other than that it could be recouped from other outstanding hubs. On the off chance that some need to control information in blockchain base framework in as he needs, he needs a ground-breaking hub that ground-breaking than all intensity of the every single other hub.

i don't think so. The blockchain sytem is an incorruptible system and let us not forget that it is not centralized and hence it is highly impossible for you to hack into the blockchain system and destroy it.

It is the most complete system ever. It is a decentralized system and it is difficult to break it completely. The airport systems are very intrusive hackers because it is a centralized system. Blockchain is not in the hands of an individual

Of course, a blockchain system can be destroyed, nothing last forever :). Blockchain system made by human and it can be destroyed for sure. But, I don't get what your purpose to ask about it.

it may be anonymous problem that is very dangerous for blockchain users
therefore, it takes trust between members to each other so that no illegal transactions or fraud happens
KYC must be done by all blockchain based platforms

How? the blockchain is scaleable a wide variety of usage maybe bitcoin and cryptocurrency won't last but the technology behind cryptocurrency will continue and will be developed

Changing and destroying the blockchain system is quite difficult. But not impossible. There are two ways to get a blockchain system destroyed:
1. When someone accounts for 50% of the blockiain chain processing server
2. Unless the internet is down (This may not be possible)

Maybe but not the present time. Up to this point, no blockchain system has been destroyed. It is quite comprehensive, ultra high security and its system is different from previous systems

As you have seen, block chain technology is the key to opening up many application paths and it is the basis for many coin to be born based on blockchain technology.

No it cannot be destroyed ETH blockchain for example the creator of this blockchain says ETH is a decentralized platform for applications that run exactly as programmed without any chance of fraud cersorship of third-party interference so it means blockchains cannot be destroyed it can only halt the transactions if no internet connections.  

Yes, the Blockchain network can be completely controlled and promoted if someone controls more than 51% of the nodes across the network.

I think this question needs a technical expert to manage it
But in principle I have not heard of this before
Perhaps the point of distinguishing an important blockchain is safety and transparency.

For me, its never going to happen the entire system is decentralized, the bkockchain is stored  on thousands  of system all around the world, the blocks in the chain are all ordered together by cryptography so its very impossible blockchain can be destroyed.

Destroyed by what? if you ask if blockchain can be destroyed you should more specify to ask. But, if you mean destroyed by human like hack or something like that, i think it will be hard for blockchain to be destroyed.

This is quite difficult because the blockchain is a decentralized system that is not just a management organization. Wanting to collapse it would have to handle too many things. That is not to say Blockchain's security is very good

Oh come one guys this is about the blockchain and not the bitcoin. The OP clearly mentions can blockchain be destroyed or not!

Blockchain is not located in a single server or hard drive space but its available over thousands and thousands of servers, pc's which are connected tot eh internet. This is connected with orderly form with a cryptography and thus makes it impossible to destruct at all.

You will never find a start and end point of the blockchain and if you have to destroy it completely then you will have to hack all the PC's around the world and workout your technique to intrude into it.

Its impossible.

No never block chain system is the most secure system it never destroyed . its a decentralized system so its impossible to be destroy

Blockchain is considered destroyed if the information in blockchain is misleading! This can happen, since any technological system is invented by humans. 51% attack is a way to destroy the blockchain system!

In my point of view, I think that blockchain system can be probably destroyed because it’s just a system that human being created. Blockchain, however, will never be destroyed because we all know that how much benefit that this kind of system bring to our life, both in crypto market. Nowadays, there is no doubt that blockchain system is such a useful tool that almost all company, business take the advantage of blockchain to develop conveniently and maybe avoid of fraud and malpractice as well. In short, blockchain is a necessary system both now and in the future.

It cannot be destroyed because it is like a malware now infected all computers around the world and the only one thing that can stop it is the internet. I hope Bitcoin will be the world currency soon.

It will be difficult to destroy bitcoins because of the decentralized system. The nodes are spread in different countries and are not connected to a server. With a centralized system, destroying a server will destroy connections to the system.

Well by destroy we have to consider a lot of contexts. In the context of hacking, Yes blockchain can be hacked since it is a software created by humans and as such, it is subject to human errors. For example in May 2016, DAO was attacked by a hacker exploiting a weakness in its smart contract code, the blow dealt was around $60 million. There was also this online theft of $65 million of bitcoin from Bitfinx, based in Hong Kong.
In the context of destroys as in completely remove it from existence, then that power will belong to its owner and since blockchain is decentralized with no owner, i don't think it can be destroyed.

Everything, in my opinion, could be destroyed or hack but for example blockchain is that "good" technology that making any issues is to hard nowadays for everyone.

Why destroy it?  Excellent technology for documents, payment systems, accounting systems and other!

By destroyed do you mean hacked? If so, no it cannot since whatever change has to be approved by more than 50 percent of the nodes and even if you own 50 percent (which is highly unlikely) you cannot make changes in a subtle manner, the ledger technology makes sure every change is recorded so whoever who uses that blockchain will see the changes and detect an abnormality instantly.

Yes, I think it can be destroyed theoretically, but
I think it is very difficult and costly to do so in practice

Your question is somehow vague. Blockchain system gas so many features and so I don't know what you're particularly referring to. Anyway let's get this straight that blockchain is internet, or perhaps part of the Internet and it forms part of coding and so I don't know how it's going to be destroyed. Well, unless perhaps someone destroys the internet and coding, else it is there so far as the the former is there.

I really do not think so.Blockchai is decentralized, it's hard to control 51% of the blockchain button. Blockchain is one of the most outstanding inventions of the 21st century. You should rest assured about the safety of blockchain and bitcoin.

It will be difficult to destroy a block chain system because of its decentralized nature. It does not have a specific server that keeps all the information, but the info is spread in different networks. It will be difficult to destroy a block chain system.

I know what you mean but I don't think that blockchain system can be destroyed. Blockchain technology is anonymous and it is really helpful, there is no reason that it will be destroyed.

From my point of view, blockchain system will never be destroyed. Instead of that, it will grow quickly in the future.

as far as i'm concerned, we can not destroy blockchain system because it is digital technology and it is decentralized.

Once the blockchain system is formed, it cannot be destroyed. Even if a quantum computer appears, it cannot be destroyed. The blockchain is a human welfare rather than a failure. The future blockchain will change all humanity. However, cryptocurrencies may depreciate significantly.

In simple words, anyone having more than 50% control would be in a position to manipulate in the way he wants thus if anyone is gaining more than 50% hashing power then he will be able to destroy it. However, since large projects are huge in volume, one should deploy high capacity machines to gain the majority of the hashing power and when such an attempt would attain more than 50% of the power, it would make that system useless so I would say that such an attempt would be none other than suicide attempt causing harm to the public.

No Blockchain system is very secure and no one can manipulate it in any way.

Depends on it's usage, everything can be destroyed.  The good thing bout the system is it can stock records and transactions which makes it easy to duplicate and continue forwared.  Destroyed? maybe not but duplicated,replicated and innovated? YES

Sorry buddy cannot agree with your ridiculous post it's quite an impossible blockchain system is very popular and extremely strong. Day by day blockchain technology become more popular even there are a number of the organization using this technology and many more institutions ready to apply because it is a very secure system.

How can people destroy blockchain system? it has a high security system, it is not easy to die.

As per my opinion blockchain system cannot be destroyed,because it is a digital technology. Its a decentralized system where the ledger is distributed across the nodes around the world. If anyone want to hack the system he need to get access to the master nodes of the ledger but practically it is impossible.

The blockchain distributed ledger is an indestructible ledger which is also immutable because of its decentralized nature. The system is not controlled by just one individual on the blockchain but rather so many other people located all over around the world. Again, its transparent system makes it very difficult for cyber fraudsters to attack the network without being spotted.

Being digital does not make it safer.

Decentralization is also relative. A large enough power could disrupt the most active blockchains, given enough funds.

Andreas Antonopoulos talks about the cost for a nation-state to attack Bitcoin. It's extremely expensive.

But being extremely expensive does not mean that a major world power couldn't disrupt it if they chose to do so.

The question then would be: what would they stand to gain from such an attack? Is the potential gain higher than the cost for the attack?

A Blockchain is as easily destroyed as it's data is secure from deletion. Setup your own testnet across a few computers you control. Now you have a blockchain. Now secure erase the executables and the chain data. Your blockchain is now destroyed (except for whatever copy the NSA has network monitored and told few about.) :)

Blockchain system cannot be destroyed as it is a decentralized system and digitized technology.
It is hard to destroy the blockchain system. 

i think its not gonna happen because blockchain is the future of the world and day by day people are interested in blockchain.

I actually do not think that destroying a blockchain system is possible! :)

You mean like be gone, like the dinosaurs?

I think his idea is that the blockchain system will be attacked and shut down completely. In fact, every system has gaps, certain weaknesses, nothing perfect, we have seen cases of attacks 51%, but to destroy a blockchain system, and make it stop working is very difficult. On the theory of "quantum computers" or "supercomputers" can destroy the blockchain system, but now mankind still can not own it.

The blockchain system cannot be destroyed because it is not controlled or manipulated by just one person. And also because of its decentralization it is difficult to attack the network from just one direction. The blockchain distributed ledger system has being admired because of these features.

i think it can't be destroyed.

Blockchain Hacking(i hope this is what you've meant  :))  is indeed possible but very hard. I've seen in the comments section about quantum Computer. Can someone explain what really is a Quantum Computer?  :)

Any system can be destroyed.
Even if it is a decentralized network of nodes that is controlled by noone and everyone at once.
Just turn off electricity all over the world, or the internet. If you mean hacking such a system, this is impossible.
This is the unique feature of the blockchain technology.

sarcastic reply. I was about to believe your story and was being confused a little bit when I had done reading the part where you stated that one should turn off the Electricity all over the world. LoL. In the last part it was being stated that block chain could not be destroy. Hmmmm. I guess it could be.

You cannot destroy Blockchain because it is a distributed ledger from around the world with thousand of masternodes. No way to destroy it period.