If the Chinese government takes over bitcoin mines

[MiddleFingerToTheMan]

So lets say that the Chinese government declares mining illegal & takes over the mines (likely to happen). Seeing that the vast majority of mining takes place in China, couldn't the government hypothetically reach over 51% of the bitcoin hashing power and basically centralize global bitcoin?
What cryptos, if any, are immune to this "51% attack" ? Is it even an issue? I'm not that well informed on the details of this subject so excuse my ignorance.

[emuLOAD]

if it were to happen, very unlikely, there are a few things Bitcoin could do to protect itself, including banning certain nodes (for the short term). worst case scenario, change algo and roll back. (that would be something acceptable only in case of a monumental disaster).

this said, won't be easy for them to get to 51%. and 51% doesn't automatically make you god.

[Ucy]

A government declares something illegal, takes over the "illegal" business.. only to continue running it.

Lacks principle. Big Hypocrisy and very immoral

[Cryptoraptor]

A government declares something illegal, takes over the "illegal" business.. only to continue running it.

Lacks principle. Big Hypocrisy and very immoral

Why would that stop them though? All China has to do is declare that Bitcoin is a foreign currency and for the Good of the People (!) they are going to take it over and nationalize it.  

[MiddleFingerToTheMan]

if it were to happen, very unlikely, there are a few things Bitcoin could do to protect itself, including banning certain nodes (for the short term). worst case scenario, change algo and roll back. (that would be something acceptable only in case of a monumental disaster).

this said, won't be easy for them to get to 51%. and 51% doesn't automatically make you god.

Banning certain nodes and changing the algo? Who makes those decisions and who has the power to do that? Is it a vote? If the Chinese have 51% then how would the vote get through?

[Voice-Of-Reason]

A government declares something illegal, takes over the "illegal" business.. only to continue running it.

Lacks principle. Big Hypocrisy and very immoral

Sounds exactly like something China would definitely do...

[EthereumPY]

so lets the ww3 begin, nuke those fancy hair asian leader at once

[European Central Bank]

I don't think the chinese really care what the rest of the world gets up to.

They want to isolate their people, not get ijvolved with everyone else.

If the chinese government did try to 51% then it's pretty much the only thing the rest of the bitcoiners could unite on. Theyd be attacking nothing pretty rapidly.

[emuLOAD]

if it were to happen, very unlikely, there are a few things Bitcoin could do to protect itself, including banning certain nodes (for the short term). worst case scenario, change algo and roll back. (that would be something acceptable only in case of a monumental disaster).

this said, won't be easy for them to get to 51%. and 51% doesn't automatically make you god.

Banning certain nodes and changing the algo? Who makes those decisions and who has the power to do that? Is it a vote? If the Chinese have 51% then how would the vote get through?

doesn't have to be a vote. developers implement a new algorithm, and publish it. people are suffering from a chinese 51% on the "original" network, they move quicker than lightning to the new client(s), and so will miners. Yes, you'd still have the previous bitcoin as a forked chain, but that would be completely irrelevant as people will use the secured chain primarely.

[rb26]

So lets say that the Chinese government declares mining illegal & takes over the mines (likely to happen). Seeing that the vast majority of mining takes place in China, couldn't the government hypothetically reach over 51% of the bitcoin hashing power and basically centralize global bitcoin?
What cryptos, if any, are immune to this "51% attack" ? Is it even an issue? I'm not that well informed on the details of this subject so excuse my ignorance.

If the Chinese government took over the mining facilities and companies in their country regardless of what scheme they've done to do so, they will not get the majority of Bitcoin. Even they literally own the 50%+1 of the hash power required, a Hard fork will be made immediately and will kill the chain which China holds. This is the most probable defensive act that will happen. So in the end, Bitcoin will still be decentralized.

[jak3]

I think yes Chinese government can do this easily but they do not need to do this as their government is not showing so much interest in bitcoin but the people are scratching the network for all the money. it's scary but that is the reason the bitcoin network is running without any hitch I expect developers can somehow manage to lower the transaction fees or we should have to start using altcoins soon.

[11-BitNinja]

So lets say that the Chinese government declares mining illegal & takes over the mines (likely to happen). Seeing that the vast majority of mining takes place in China, couldn't the government hypothetically reach over 51% of the bitcoin hashing power and basically centralize global bitcoin?
What cryptos, if any, are immune to this "51% attack" ? Is it even an issue? I'm not that well informed on the details of this subject so excuse my ignorance.

If the Chinese government took over the mining facilities and companies in their country regardless of what scheme they've done to do so, they will not get the majority of Bitcoin. Even they literally own the 50%+1 of the hash power required, a Hard fork will be made immediately and will kill the chain which China holds. This is the most probable defensive act that will happen. So in the end, Bitcoin will still be decentralized.

I agree with this...or the price of BitCoin would go str8 to the s#itter...

[sloworm]

A government declares something illegal, takes over the "illegal" business.. only to continue running it.

Lacks principle. Big Hypocrisy and very immoral

this is like gold reserve of a country.

brilliant idea if a country hold bitcoin, Chinese are clever people

[Astvile]

Thats automatic my dear,if a government declared something illegal then they must  continue it  because they see better potential of earning money through it that was what always happen.If that happen then dont expect drops because they will continue it

[hatshepsut93]

51% attack allows attacker to do 2 things - double spend coins and freeze the network (but not at the same time). Assumption that 51% attack gives you full control over the network is a popular misconception. So far there was no case of such attack on the Bitcoin network because its extremely expensive and attacker loses more than they would gain. But using seized equipment may brought down the spending to practical levels, however it's not possible to seize all mines in one moment and switch them to attack mode - we might have some time to prepare. Also, it's very unlikely that China would do it, as openly engaging in a big scale hacking would be bad for their public image on international level.

[leopard2]

POS coins like PPC, NXT, XSPEC or (future) ETH will go through the roof.

[Zarbout]

If they ban mining, the other miner will have better rewards. I heard that Russia welcome miners near to nuclear power plants.

[BitcoinPanther]

51% attack allows attacker to do 2 things - double spend coins and freeze the network (but not at the same time). Assumption that 51% attack gives you full control over the network is a popular misconception. So far there was no case of such attack on the Bitcoin network because its extremely expensive and attacker loses more than they would gain. But using seized equipment may brought down the spending to practical levels, however it's not possible to seize all mines in one moment and switch them to attack mode - we might have some time to prepare. Also, it's very unlikely that China would do it, as openly engaging in a big scale hacking would be bad for their public image on international level.

What would be ruined in the public image of CHINA?  They had been double standard ever since.  Especially the water territorial dispute between China and Japan and China and Southeast Asian nation.  They cry for UNCLOS on Japan issue and ignoring it on the SEA issue.  It is more likely China would do this stuff stated by Ucy.  Since I believe they care less for their public image but rather they want to secure their power.

[CroDam]

Miners will move to Russia or Japan.

[skorupi17]

So lets say that the Chinese government declares mining illegal & takes over the mines (likely to happen). Seeing that the vast majority of mining takes place in China, couldn't the government hypothetically reach over 51% of the bitcoin hashing power and basically centralize global bitcoin?
What cryptos, if any, are immune to this "51% attack" ? Is it even an issue? I'm not that well informed on the details of this subject so excuse my ignorance.

Essentially a change of algorithm or some sort of check of IP to block the miners in china (if possible).

I cannot see how to change the algorithm of Bitcoin. Is this doable? In regards to the blocking of IP address from the miners in China, this is a very weak defense for Bitcoin mining. They can easily use VPN and then they will appear to be mining in another country.

The best possible action for this is to have a hardfork then the remaining 49% separate from these Chinese and kill the other chain where the Chinese miners are.