What if..

[TonyAldo]

What if say everyone stopped mining, would bitcoin collapse?

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[jackjack]

1. Everyone stop mining
2. Difficulty falls
3. Mining become more and more profitable
4. People start mining again
5. There are so many people mining that mining isn't profitable anymore
6. Go to 1
7. ? ? ?
8. Profit

[Crystallas]

If there is still something to mine, then it could collapse. But if BTC is established widely enough, then mining may not matter(in such an odd and improbable scenario). Something would have to trigger the demise of mining, and that would be the root cause, not the end of mining itself as the root cause.

[TonyAldo]

If there is still something to mine, then it could collapse. But if BTC is established widely enough, then mining may not matter(in such an odd and improbable scenario). Something would have to trigger the demise of mining, and that would be the root cause, not the end of mining itself as the root cause.

Excuse me if I'm wrong, I'm pretty new to Bitcoin. But aren't people that mine the middle men transaction processors?

[lassdas]

What if say everyone stopped mining, would bitcoin collapse?

What if say everyone stopped using computers, would the internet collapse?

Short answer: Yes

Thing is, it won't happen, ever.

I for example would happily donate say a couple of CPUs (or FPGAs, or ASICs) to the good cause that Bitcoin is, even at a loss.
And even me being the only person on this planet doing that would probably be enough to keep the system running (not exactly decentralized though).

[Peter Lambert]

What if say everyone stopped mining, would bitcoin collapse?

No, bitcoin would not collapse. If nobody is mining, then bitcoin would be in a sort of suspended animation, since no transactions would be processed. But any bitcoins you have would still be yours. Whenever anybody started mining again things would just pick up where they left off.

[fiddelingones]

What if say everyone stopped mining, would bitcoin collapse?

After bitcoin collapse, everyone stop mining sonner or later.

It is not question if, but when it happens.

[DannyHamilton]

What if say everyone stopped mining, would bitcoin collapse?

It depends on what you mean by "collapse".

If there were no miners, then transactions could not be "confirmed", and the blockchain would stop growing.

All your existing bitcoins would be secure, and transactions could still be created and relayed between peers, but double-spend attacks would become easier, so it would be more difficult to trust a transaction that you receive.

Would this cause everyone to loose faith in bitcoin and abandon it?  Probably. And that would result in a collapse.

HOWEVER . . .

As long as a bitcoin has any value at all, why would everyone stop mining?  Someone somewhere would see the opportunity to earn some additional value by starting up a miner.  They would get all the block subsidies and all the transaction fees.  Then someone else would want some of that money as well, wo they also would start up a miner.  Before long there are plenty of miners and the blockchain and confirmation process is right back where it was.

As long as bitcoin has value, people will continue to run miners.  As long as people continue to run miners, bitcoin should have some value.  It is intentionally designed as a positive feedback loop.

[DannyHamilton]

It is not question if, but when it happens.

You sound very confident.  Explain?

[DannyHamilton]

If there is still something to mine, then it could collapse. But if BTC is established widely enough, then mining may not matter(in such an odd and improbable scenario). Something would have to trigger the demise of mining, and that would be the root cause, not the end of mining itself as the root cause.

This is not how bitcoin works.  The process of creating blocks must continue for transaction confirmation to occur.

[dayasinfo]

If there is still something to mine, then it could collapse. But if BTC is established widely enough, then mining may not matter(in such an odd and improbable scenario). Something would have to trigger the demise of mining, and that would be the root cause, not the end of mining itself as the root cause.

This is not how bitcoin works.  The process of creating blocks must continue for transaction confirmation to occur.

Agreed... Nobody mines.. nothing is accomplished.

[fiddelingones]

It is not question if, but when it happens.

You sound very confident.  Explain?

Nothing last forever

[BitBung]

What if you stop breathing?

[AnonyMint]

What if Satoshi intended for transaction processing to be gifted to us by the state:

http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/8671/any-counter-proof-that-satoshi-nakamoto-did-not-design-a-ponzi-scheme-on-purpose#comment11308_8671

[yordan]

What if say everyone stopped mining, would bitcoin collapse?

It doesn't work if nobody is mining.  The transactions will not be confirmed and no coins will move.

[AnonyMint]

The government would be compelled to do the mining at a loss... and then they would know the IP address of every sender and receiver and essentially control the system and the anonymity is gone...