Bitcoin Forum

http://www.quora.com/Bitcoin/Whats-the-status-of-Bitcoin-in-2012

So long as all it takes is the NSA to constantly 51% attack the network, Bitcoin has no future. We need to fix that "problem" first.

It's laughable really--

"Hey let's go around an evil government system where people have to do things because the majority says so, by creating a currency that works the way the majority says so."


 ::)

Just be patient.

It's a simple matter of incentives, that's all. Besides Proof of Stake, which has its own complicated thread, I imagine Proof of Work will work very well in the upcoming ten years+. ASICs should dominate the market, bringing the difficulty way higher than it is. New players buying rigs or mining contracts should increase the global hash rate as well.

I don't see 51% attack as an immediate threat at all. Yes, I know about the 15% solo miner ... still.

Bitcoin is at infancy at this moment, and with 10-12 TH/s, it beats the combination of the world's most powerful computers. Try to make a 51% attack when the network reaches 100, 200 or 500 TH/s


 

Oh Matthew... you're smarter than that :) It's a terrible comparison. The former is involuntary, the latter voluntary. Nobody is compelled by force to use Bitcoin, and thus it only survives on its merits. Completely different from a compulsory system which survives not on merit but on force and threat of violence.

My point wasn't the intention of bitcoiners, it was the sad reality that the NSA will always be able to outgun Bitcoiners until the end of time because they don't have to work for their money.

Is there actually evidence that the NSA can command over 10 TH/s?

The same kind of evidence that the government is actively trying to keep Bitcoin from being used in the world-- circumstantial.  :D

will you be spreading same FUD in your magazine ? good luck with that !

I am not a writer of the magazine. I keep my trolling to the forums.

I'll get Agents Mulder and Scully right on it.

The NSA is not to far from my house, and I drive past them often. Judging by the power relay station right outside their buildings, within their fences, they definitely have the electricity to mine a few TH/s. Likewise, they can very easily afford the hardware. Problem is, their supercomputers are floating point CPU based, and though they can afford to buy the mining equipment (yay for our tax dollars), the actual hardware isn't available to buy. They would have to actually put in a custom order to manufacture a lot of the stuff. Not sure how secret they'd be able to keep an order like that, though.

How secret would butterfly labs need to be?

All they need is a team that knows what they're doing.

They move missiles on public roads all the time without our knowledge, surely they can make an FPGA farm. Intelligence is what they do.

Meh, you're probably right. It's a good thing we can see who is mining blocks at all times. I wonder, if the unknown from just a few IP addresses suddenly started to grow, showing a risk of 51%, would people donate all their GPU and even CPU mining power just to save Bitcoin?

hehehe, just reserve a pair of pages on magazine for trolling there too.

be careful dude, must wear a good tin foil hat at your home, I heard they are also very advanced at electromagnetic hearing.  ;D

Funny, I read the title and thought of this: www.bitcoin2012.com

haha me too.