Blockchain Security (Bitcoin, Etherium, Present & Future) - Could This Work?

[KaraKelly]

Hi

I'm brand spankin new here but not new to bitcoin. I've owned a little but currently don't. I was reading google news and ended up on You Tube checking out the Tech Crunch series and by the time I got to the last segment, I had this question rising up and it seems - to me - this could be a viable option. However, since I am waaay out of my element on the technical side, I ask from a place of consumerism and the entire basis of Trust in the system. I'm pasting the same question posed on that YT channel here because this seems to me to be the hub of the whole community, or at least the "go to" spot for discussion.  

I hope this is clear enough for you to get what I'm asking, where I'm going with it and you can feed back on why it could - or couldn't - be a "thing" so thanks in advance.

Kara

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My question will immediately illuminate my overall lack of pure understanding about the blockchain portion of BTC and Ether but it's coming from an intuitive place so I'm going to pose this question to learn more about that aspect, but if it turns out my question/suggestion is somehow doable it would seem like it could solve the problem and eliminate theft altogether as a pointless endeavor.

As it stands, people can take the units of value to their own accounts and ultimately cash it out for some such local currency and continue using that "cash out" in real world transactions off the blockchain. Because of the irreversability and anonymity it's next to impossible to find out who it was or get it back.

So why not a way to render it irrelevant and valueless instead?

Regardless of whether a theft/hack is for system stability enhancement purposes, political statements, control, sabotage, - whatever - if there was a way to provide something along the lines of short, sub forks that might be able to solve it.

What I mean is this by example: We have a tree (blockchain) with many branches and smaller branches (transactions, including theft ones/hacks). So a branch is involved in a hack. The system creates a sub fork which immediately renders all the units of value worthless and disconnected from the primary trunk (tree), essentially snipping off the dead/hacked branch from the whole chain so they may have a ton of units but those units are no longer of value, and nobody will be inclined to trade it for cash.

Kind of a built in fail safe where the whole system reconfigures itself - and while the records are maintained, still unalterable unto themselves, they're just "dead branches" in the overall organism.

It's the same principle behind these massive hacks/thefts that have people selling off because they lost faith in the system, ultimately driving down demand and price point. So the idea is to take that same principle and flip it over so the demand on the theft side is lost while strengthening the system.

This is intuitive mostly because it's kind of how we solve most of the problems from internal organs and systems to universal ones. A unit individual creates mass disruption in the system, that unit is removed from the system or at least blocked from it. Adverse cells in the body, immune system, criminals in prison, amputations, and tree trimming...the same principle is all around us so why couldn't it be built into the blockchain itself? A self healing chain.

Also, say the overall value is X amount and a hack removed half of X...their half is rendered valueless while the lesser amount becomes even more valuable?

HOW to make that happen I don't even begin to have an answer. That's why I posed a question - is this something the tech geniuses could get together on and work into the system. The simple reality hacking would render their haul worthless while transferring more value to the system they're now "snipped" from would pretty much deter the whole thieving element as a waste of time and provide stronger security.

As for cost, it may or may not be ridiculously expensive but if it is, should cost now be a barrier to ultimate resolution of security? Why not invest the money in these dev stages and once that's handled, it'd make the whole system ridiculously more valuable and secure, and provide trust for new people to look into it and ultimately get on board.

[AgentofCoin]

...

What I mean is this by example: We have a tree (blockchain) with many branches and smaller branches (transactions, including theft ones/hacks). So a branch is involved in a hack. The system creates a sub fork which immediately renders all the units of value worthless and disconnected from the primary trunk (tree), essentially snipping off the dead/hacked branch from the whole chain so they may have a ton of units but those units are no longer of value, and nobody will be inclined to trade it for cash.

...

What you are describing is essentially an "editable blockchain". An editable blockchain is an oxymoron.
Satoshi "invented" the PoW chain system to prevent edits within an online currency, even theft.

Also, you are arguing for blacklisting of coin, which is a violation of the social contract and goes against
almost everything that allows Bitcoin to work. If what you are explaining becomes a reality, then there
is no longer a valid purpose for Bitcoin to exist. You cut your nose to spite your face.

All bitcoins are free and equal, or one day none shall be.

[Dassi]

OP is saying that once a coin is stolen, the owner could just "broadcast" to the network and all miners will render that particular coin valueless so the thief will essentially have nothing to sell for fiat.

If miners can agree to turn a coin to 0.00btc, they might also agree to turn 0.1btc to 10btc and make more money for themselves. It will create more chaos than the problem it will solve.

[franky1]

the problem is not with bitcoin and other crypto's

losses and thefts are when people hand over bitcoin in exchange for something not crypto. and the the person giving the non-crypto pretends something went wrong and takes the non crypto away. while not handing the bitcoin back either.

deleting bitcoin helps no one.

instead we need to stop doing stupid things like swapping bitcoin for things that can evaporate.

credit cards/paypal
anyone wanting to trade bitcoin for creditcards/paypal and other chargeback scamming currencies deserves to lose funds. but destroying bitcoin due to lazy exchanges helps no one.

FIAT is the flaw of scams. if people want to buy bitcoin then they should use a payment method they cannot charge back. such as face to face bank note<->btc....... using btms. setting up businesses. and slowly do away with the paypal/credit cards that are scammable and also high in fee's

exchanges
we need to stop using exchanges that end up with the sole permission of the funds. giving users deletable mysql database "balance"
who can fake a hack and keep the bitcoin at any time.
multisigs should be used

spending bitcoin
instead we need to move bitcoin forward to buy produce direct. that way once the person who has the tin of baked beans cannot chargeback a tin of beans. and the guy selling the baked beans cannot ask for them back and keep the bitcoin too. again multisig can help as an escrow for distance selling

we need to stop trying to screw with bitcoin to allow losers to play with fiat flaws. and instead stop caring about the fiat flaws and use bitcoin more direct.. as a real currency