how about removing ALL computers

[Slark]

Well, that's why Jeff Garzik started "satellite" project. Check here; https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=334701.0
I think this satellite project is being developed in case of catastrophic failures, attacks to the network etc.

A target-spesific virus may delete/corrupt blockchain data on PC's etc... Even it's so small but it's a probability...

If we have catastrophe here on earth and everything will be ruined. Say huge tsunami, earthquakes, meteor strike. I doubt that people would be using bitcoin anyway, that satellite launch is really just fancy project for people and media to talk about mostly. For promotional purposes it is great effort tho.

[1715611679]

1715611679

[1715611679]

1715611679

[1715611679]

1715611679

[planetroving]

Deleting all files relating to the Blockchain. Wow, that'll be a task and a half. Shutting down every node? That's not going to happen. Well, in my lifetime anyways. But nobody is going to do this, and if somebody is going to, it's near impossible.

[ranochigo]

Bitcoins are still safe in that case (that reside in wallet.dat files) but it would be impossible to claim those coins without the block chain.

Your bitcoins are not stored anywhere but they are recorded in the blockchain as ledger. You only have your private key in your wallet which is used to spend or sign the address. The client verifies your balance by checking against blockchain, not wallet.dat.

[Amph]

If you remove all nodes (I think you mean 'nodes' when you say 'cores' - computers that hold full block chain), Bitcoins will not be lost.
Only block chain will be lost, which contains the data of all Bitcoin transactions carried out till date.

Bitcoins are still safe in that case (that reside in wallet.dat files) but it would be impossible to claim those coins without the block chain.

as long as bitcoin are safe(and you hold your wallet.dat/private keys)you just need to restore the nodes and thus the blockchain, i don't see the problem here

but in this case, anyone can control the network easily, it would be a double spend-fest...

[Kprawn]

Most of you guys are talking about catastrofic "end of the world" events, that might eleminate most of the other electronic infrastructure out there too..

It would take a mayor event to destroy all nodes and if that happens, we would not be worried about Bitcoin anymore.

These nodes are spread out all over earth and soon into space.. so the chance of destroying EVERY node is VERY small.   

The few people who would survive in under ground bunkers, would not have anything to spend their Bitcoin on, so it would not matter to them, if they using bottle caps or chocolate bars to barter. 

[shogdite]

@OP

Your questions have already been answered, there's absolutely no need to worry about bitcoin being lost.

[locopao]

Ok, so the answer is "this is never gonna happen"

Let me ask the other way around: Is this possible to happen to the banking system? I mean can a virus or something "big" eliminate every bank transaction and destory the fiat money as we know it?

All these bank accounts, all these credit cards, all these wire transfers etc. Is there a "blockchain safety" for all these everyday banking related transactions?

It sounds more possible to me. Right?

[Snipe85]

Ok, so the answer is "this is never gonna happen"

Let me ask the other way around: Is this possible to happen to the banking system? I mean can a virus or something "big" eliminate every bank transaction and destory the fiat money as we know it?

All these bank accounts, all these credit cards, all these wire transfers etc. Is there a "blockchain safety" for all these everyday banking related transactions?

It sounds more possible to me. Right?

No, because information is also stored offline so the virus would only wipe out new entries and we'd have a rollback.
Also there are people constantly monitoring the network and any suspicious activity would make them go offline and try to isolate the virus.

[sgk]

Most of you guys are talking about catastrofic "end of the world" events, that might eleminate most of the other electronic infrastructure out there too..

It would take a mayor event to destroy all nodes and if that happens, we would not be worried about Bitcoin anymore.

These nodes are spread out all over earth and soon into space.. so the chance of destroying EVERY node is VERY small.   

The few people who would survive in under ground bunkers, would not have anything to spend their Bitcoin on, so it would not matter to them, if they using bottle caps or chocolate bars to barter. 

Yep, but this was a rather hypothetical question to understand the underlying technicalities of how Bitcoin and the node network works.
(Or at least that's what I think the OP was asking)

On a related note, a few days ago I read about a proposal to launch a series of satellites (yes, the kind that orbit the earth) that contain Bitcoin block chain and act as nodes!
http://www.coindesk.com/jeff-garzik-announces-partnership-launch-bitcoin-satellites-space/

[Cruxer]

something bothered me,since ive started bitcoin

i think all the transactions are stored in computers,thats the core,right?if that's the core,what if we remove all the core's existence?does this mean all the bitcoins existed will be lost?

You will find that there's 1000's of computers / nodes out there operated by different people who will never remove their copy of the blockchain.

This is the beauty of the blockchain, it's massively distributed on a global scale.

It's not feasible to simply shut it down.

Not possible to shut down. One person can store whole blockchain on pendrive and noone will find it :>

[BlackMachine]

something bothered me,since ive started bitcoin

i think all the transactions are stored in computers,thats the core,right?if that's the core,what if we remove all the core's existence?does this mean all the bitcoins existed will be lost?

You will find that there's 1000's of computers / nodes out there operated by different people who will never remove their copy of the blockchain.

This is the beauty of the blockchain, it's massively distributed on a global scale.

It's not feasible to simply shut it down.

Not possible to shut down. One person can store whole blockchain on pendrive and noone will find it :>

you need to have the latest block to revive the network. it will be shut down unless someone has the latest block height when the whole network stop mining

[sgk]

something bothered me,since ive started bitcoin

i think all the transactions are stored in computers,thats the core,right?if that's the core,what if we remove all the core's existence?does this mean all the bitcoins existed will be lost?

You will find that there's 1000's of computers / nodes out there operated by different people who will never remove their copy of the blockchain.

This is the beauty of the blockchain, it's massively distributed on a global scale.

It's not feasible to simply shut it down.

Not possible to shut down. One person can store whole blockchain on pendrive and noone will find it :>

you need to have the latest block to revive the network. it will be shut down unless someone has the latest block height when the whole network stop mining

Or you can implement the most recent copy of block chain, do a hard fork discarding all future transaction that are not available on network any more.

[Amph]

something bothered me,since ive started bitcoin

i think all the transactions are stored in computers,thats the core,right?if that's the core,what if we remove all the core's existence?does this mean all the bitcoins existed will be lost?

You will find that there's 1000's of computers / nodes out there operated by different people who will never remove their copy of the blockchain.

This is the beauty of the blockchain, it's massively distributed on a global scale.

It's not feasible to simply shut it down.

Not possible to shut down. One person can store whole blockchain on pendrive and noone will find it :>

you need to have the latest block to revive the network. it will be shut down unless someone has the latest block height when the whole network stop mining

you could  avoid this, by mining yourself before the whole mining network will stop to mine, pretty easy

at that point the blockchain is in your hand too, you have absolute control of it

[Lauda]

This is rather a very strange way of thinking. If you remove all the computers in a bank the bank will stop working too. It's all the same. Technically no money is removed in either case, unless you make a pancake out of your HDD and fry it.

Ok, so the answer is "this is never gonna happen"
Let me ask the other way around: Is this possible to happen to the banking system? I mean can a virus or something "big" eliminate every bank transaction and destory the fiat money as we know it?

All these bank accounts, all these credit cards, all these wire transfers etc. Is there a "blockchain safety" for all these everyday banking related transactions?

It sounds more possible to me. Right?

Banks are even more vulnerable. It's just that the media doesn't focus on this like it does with Bitcoin. I've read news of teens that hacked through the security of a bank, same with .govt websites.

Well, that's why Jeff Garzik started "satellite" project. Check here; https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=334701.0
I think this satellite project is being developed in case of catastrophic failures, attacks to the network etc.
A target-spesific virus may delete/corrupt blockchain data on PC's etc... Even it's so small but it's a probability...

The main question is how is the virus going to infect 6000+ nodes and most of them are running Linux given that many host it on VPS and raspberrypi. Some people don't do anything other than making it a node. So it would be hard to get them to execute a virus.

Good luck on going through a real setup with cisco firewalls. Viruses usually infect the PC of an average Joe. People who have a very high understanding of Bitcoin (few on this forum) are usually very tech savy.

[marcotheminer]

Now lock this thread to prevent useless replies please.

[bitboy11]

something bothered me,since ive started bitcoin

i think all the transactions are stored in computers,thats the core,right?if that's the core,what if we remove all the core's existence?does this mean all the bitcoins existed will be lost?

This is not possible. Even the US military in all its glory could not take down the blockchain completely!