Wall Observer BTC/USD - Bitcoin price movement tracking & discussion

[ljudotina]

Ghash is earning insane amount of $$$ on BTC. I don't see how would they intentionaly want to destroy what feeds them (and feeds them very very good).
Thos, this situation, should be sign for devs....it's time to make some serious decisions.
Everyone sais, ASIC's are "keepers of network" they "make it safer".
Well, you don't need ASIC to tear Bitcoin apart. All you need to do is to bribe / somehow convince leaders of 2 or 3 top pools and thing is over. That's 2 or 3 individuals....and that's what's really scarry.

Bitcoin is great thing, not because of hardware, it's great because of it's protocol (software). That's why security can not be and should not be guaranteed by hardware. It should be enforced in protocol, on software side. Solutions are out there, just check some other coins and their solutions.

But i dont really see it change. Hardware companies are too deep into BTC coding decisions to let anything change as far as that goes.

I still believe in Bitcoin, i still hold what i have, and buy what i can, but i dont have to like every aspect of it.

[matt4054]

Most of the hashrate at GHash.io is external. If they play evil, they will massively lose hash power.

Bitcoin is heavily resilient, there's no need to worry all that much.

[hd060053]

Ghash is earning insane amount of $$$ on BTC. I don't see how would they intentionaly want to destroy what feeds them (and feeds them very very good).
Thos, this situation, should be sign for devs....it's time to make some serious decisions.
Everyone sais, ASIC's are "keepers of network" they "make it safer".
Well, you don't need ASIC to tear Bitcoin apart. All you need to do is to bribe / somehow convince leaders of 2 or 3 top pools and thing is over. That's 2 or 3 individuals....and that's what's really scarry.

Bitcoin is great thing, not because of hardware, it's great because of it's protocol (software). That's why security can not be and should not be guaranteed by hardware. It should be enforced in protocol, on software side. Solutions are out there, just check some other coins and their solutions.

But i dont really see it change. Hardware companies are too deep into BTC coding decisions to let anything change as far as that goes.

I still believe in Bitcoin, i still hold what i have, and buy what i can, but i dont have to like every aspect of it.

y, that really scary. 2 persons (leaders of pools) could destroy bitcoin, if they really want or are forced.

[KFR]

GHash is now at 48%. 

https://blockchain.info/pools?timespan=24hrs

Its really scaring, dont know what will happen if they touch 51% mark.

Absolutely nothing.  51% is not, in this case at least, a magic number.  Double spend attacks are theoretically possible with much less than 51%.  

Furthermore those in control of the 51% can not somehow magically destroy Bitcoin overnight.  It simply means that they, in theory, could destabilize the network and perhaps scam some coins but A) that's massively not in their interests and B) as soon as some miners shift their hashrate to a different pool their evil plans are totally thwarted.

If you're actually interested in knowing and understanding: https://bitcoil.co.il/Doublespend.pdf

TLDR: The threat is real but the implications are often massively overblown.  Learn more; worry less.

[KFR]

y, that really scary. 2 persons (leaders of pools) could destroy bitcoin, if they really want or are forced.

More scaremongering. 

"Leaders of pools" implies they control the miners pointing their hardware at the pool.  They don't.

[KFR]

p2pool is pretty neat and I used it a bit until all my equipment became obsolete. It has more variance than some people like though.

P2Pool is great.  Yup more variance but it's certainly the way to go - especially for anyone concerned about the sun exploding if some centralised pool touches 51%.

[KFR]

Most of the hashrate at GHash.io is external. If they play evil, they will massively lose hash power.

Bitcoin is heavily resilient, there's no need to worry all that much.

Precisely.

[ChartBuddy]

Explanation

[TwinWinNerD]

Most of the hashrate at GHash.io is external. If they play evil, they will massively lose hash power.

Bitcoin is heavily resilient, there's no need to worry all that much.

Precisely.

No it is not precise.

Quite the opposite. Someone calculated all the Ghash that is floating on the exchanges(was traded). Plus the normal poeple that just point their miners on the pool. MORE than half of the hashrate was unaccounted for, so Ghash is just farming away 1/5~ of the total network.

[tarmi]

wow, someone is dumping ltc hard for btc and cashing out at stamp.

[kryptopojken]

price at stamp=price at btc-e

haven't seen that in a while

[Dotto]

we are breaking the sixth support line in a row...

[hyphymikey]

I can't wait until this manipulator is done at Stamp. Keeping the price $10 lower than BFX and Huobi.

[KFR]

Most of the hashrate at GHash.io is external. If they play evil, they will massively lose hash power.

Bitcoin is heavily resilient, there's no need to worry all that much.

Precisely.

No it is not precise.

Quite the opposite. Someone calculated all the Ghash that is floating on the exchanges(was traded). Plus the normal poeple that just point their miners on the pool. MORE than half of the hashrate was unaccounted for, so Ghash is just farming away 1/5~ of the total network.

The point is that a malicious pool won't retain its full hashrate for very long.  51% should not be seen as a cataclysmic Bitcoin-ending event as it has often been portrayed.  Rather it should be seen as a redline indicator to miners using that pool that they should switch unless they really want to jeopardise most of their crypto investment.

It is massively in a pool owner's interests to ensure they don't risk the network by retaining more than 50% for any significant length of time.

I'm confident that in the fullness of time the protocol will be adapted to mitigate this threat however in the meantime, P2Pool.

[Chalkbot]

Most of the hashrate at GHash.io is external. If they play evil, they will massively lose hash power.

Bitcoin is heavily resilient, there's no need to worry all that much.

Precisely.

No it is not precise.

Quite the opposite. Someone calculated all the Ghash that is floating on the exchanges(was traded). Plus the normal poeple that just point their miners on the pool. MORE than half of the hashrate was unaccounted for, so Ghash is just farming away 1/5~ of the total network.

The point is that a malicious pool won't retain its full hashrate for very long.  51% should not be seen as a cataclysmic Bitcoin-ending event as it has often been portrayed.  Rather it should be seen as a redline indicator to miners using that pool that they should switch unless they really want to jeopardise most of their crypto investment.

It is massively in a pool owner's interests to ensure they don't risk the network by retaining more than 50% for any significant length of time.

I'm confident that in the fullness of time the protocol will be adapted to mitigate this threat however in the meantime, P2Pool.

I seem to recall that BTC Guild was in a similar position once, and they simply adjusted their fees up as their hashrate approached 50% to encourage users to find other pools. This seemed like a great solution to me, but maybe some miners felt taken by it.

[JorgeStolfi]

Since it is FUD time, why not:

I wonder how many people here know how this pic is related to bitcoin:
Bogart Pediatric 2009 Wine Aficionado Dinner
Here is another one (the URL is a spoiler):
Bogart Pediatric 2010 Wine Aficionado Dinner

There are several things to worry about re this person, but one in particular that may be relevant is that, before getting interested in bitcoin, that man went into the business of acquiring and selling virtual currencies and goods in internet games, and took over the entire market.

[ljudotina]

Since it is FUD time, why not:

I wonder how many people here know how this pic is related to bitcoin:
Bogart Pediatric 2009 Wine Aficionado Dinner
Here is another one (the URL is a spoiler):
Bogart Pediatric 2010 Wine Aficionado Dinner

There are several things to worry about re this person, but one in particular that may be relevant is that, before getting interested in bitcoin, that man went into the business of acquiring and selling virtual currencies and goods in internet games, and took over the entire market.

So basicly, he's good....really good?

[madmat]

Since it is FUD time, why not:
Blabla...

So funny. You usually don't care if it is fud time or not.

[Chalkbot]

Since it is FUD time, why not:

I wonder how many people here know how this pic is related to bitcoin:
Bogart Pediatric 2009 Wine Aficionado Dinner
Here is another one (the URL is a spoiler):
Bogart Pediatric 2010 Wine Aficionado Dinner

There are several things to worry about re this person, but one in particular that may be relevant is that, before getting interested in bitcoin, that man went into the business of acquiring and selling virtual currencies and goods in internet games, and took over the entire market.

Are you suggesting that he is going to buy all the bitcoin?

[KFR]

You still here prof?