blockchain fork backed by a government

[btc_enigma]

 Hi,

Suppose the chinese government forks the bitcoin blockchain ( all parameters same, just a different genesis block ). It promises to always give minimum 1000USD to anyone willing to sell it 1BTC on this chain. Also it pumps in a few billions of dollars creating exchanges, hiring developers and giving money to mining pools and merchants  to move to this new fork. The blockchain itself may be forked by a independent group of developers and miners, seeming to independent creating a myth of decentralization.

My theory is that majority of the users (who panic seeing volatility in current blockchain) will move to this new blockchain. Merchants may also start moving to this chain. This will eventually wipe out all the wealth in the current chain.

Is this possible ? Can a evil government get away with such a scheme

[CurbsideProphet]

Anything is possible and with Bitcoin, the majority rules.  If the majority wants to follow this government fork then it will take over.  The better question to ask is will the majority do it?

[Khadaji]

Such a scenario would change what many people are looking at when they go with crypto currency. With government control, I suspect that you'd lose anonymity, and the government involved, there'd quickly come the ability to tax...

I really don't see such a scenario impacting crypto coins for these reasons...

[ZephramC]

This fork would not replace Bitcoin, but it would coexist with it. Many people will move, subdue to government control and in time will be robbed by government "for he greater good". Some will see this coming, return to original Bitcoin, maybe even avoid any loss at all. Others would stay and loose.
Maybe the government fork would offer good ratio between freedom/privacy and security and would work just fine (for some people).

[CryptoKilla]

This fork would not replace Bitcoin, but it would coexist with it. Many people will move, subdue to government control and in time will be robbed by government "for he greater good". Some will see this coming, return to original Bitcoin, maybe even avoid any loss at all. Others would stay and loose.
Maybe the government fork would offer good ratio between freedom/privacy and security and would work just fine (for some people).

Exactly

[coinft]

This fork would not replace Bitcoin, but it would coexist with it. Many people will move, subdue to government control and in time will be robbed by government "for he greater good". Some will see this coming, return to original Bitcoin, maybe even avoid any loss at all. Others would stay and loose.
Maybe the government fork would offer good ratio between freedom/privacy and security and would work just fine (for some people).

If you are careful you can spend pre-fork coins on *both* chains.

Most likely once the majority decides one fork is better than the other they will cash in the coins of the other fork, and likely kill it in the process. I don't believe 2 forks can coexist for long on equal footing.

I for one would take a guarantee of 1000$ up immediately to cash out and keep my coins on the original fork. If everyone does that the gov is down a lot of fiat money, has gotten a stack of pretty worthless crypto coins, and the original bitcoin still survives. I don't see any gov being stupid enough to try that.

Well except maybe if they mandate their crypto coins to be legal tender and start paying employees with it, but then these crypto coins would be nothing more than fiat in disguise.

[ShakyhandsBTCer]

This fork would not replace Bitcoin, but it would coexist with it. Many people will move, subdue to government control and in time will be robbed by government "for he greater good". Some will see this coming, return to original Bitcoin, maybe even avoid any loss at all. Others would stay and loose.
Maybe the government fork would offer good ratio between freedom/privacy and security and would work just fine (for some people).

If you are careful you can spend pre-fork coins on *both* chains.

Most likely once the majority decides one fork is better than the other they will cash in the coins of the other fork, and likely kill it in the process. I don't believe 2 forks can coexist for long on equal footing.

I for one would take a guarantee of 1000$ up immediately to cash out and keep my coins on the original fork. If everyone does that the gov is down a lot of fiat money, has gotten a stack of pretty worthless crypto coins, and the original bitcoin still survives. I don't see any gov being stupid enough to try that.

Well except maybe if they mandate their crypto coins to be legal tender and start paying employees with it, but then these crypto coins would be nothing more than fiat in disguise.

You would usually have a short period to do this and it is generally accepted ahead of time that a fork will be accepted, at least in the case of Bitcoin.

[waldox]

the people around the world would never let a foreign country dictate/govern their bitcoin holdings
china's fork will fail without unanimous support by the bitcoin miners/pools

[ShakyhandsBTCer]

the people around the world would never let a foreign country dictate/govern their bitcoin holdings
china's fork will fail without unanimous support by the bitcoin miners/pools

Any government fork would not succeed, but if that government controlled enough of the miners (over 1/2) then it would

[nwfella]

Bitcoin: the ultimate computer science "herd mentality" experiment!

[Malok]

Bitcoin: the ultimate computer science "herd mentality" experiment!

Hah - too funny!