Bitcoin Forum
April 26, 2024, 10:35:16 AM *
News: Latest Bitcoin Core release: 27.0 [Torrent]
 
   Home   Help Search Login Register More  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: blockchain fork backed by a government  (Read 1285 times)
btc_enigma (OP)
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Activity: 688
Merit: 565


View Profile
March 06, 2014, 04:04:36 PM
 #1

 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

1714127716
Hero Member
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1714127716

View Profile Personal Message (Offline)

Ignore
1714127716
Reply with quote  #2

1714127716
Report to moderator
"Your bitcoin is secured in a way that is physically impossible for others to access, no matter for what reason, no matter how good the excuse, no matter a majority of miners, no matter what." -- Greg Maxwell
Advertised sites are not endorsed by the Bitcoin Forum. They may be unsafe, untrustworthy, or illegal in your jurisdiction.
CurbsideProphet
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Activity: 672
Merit: 500


View Profile
March 06, 2014, 05:56:54 PM
 #2

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?

1ProphetnvP8ju2SxxRvVvyzCtTXDgLPJV
Khadaji
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 42
Merit: 0


View Profile
March 06, 2014, 07:15:23 PM
 #3

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
Sr. Member
****
Offline Offline

Activity: 475
Merit: 254



View Profile
March 06, 2014, 08:14:20 PM
 #4

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
Member
**
Offline Offline

Activity: 112
Merit: 10


View Profile
March 06, 2014, 09:42:05 PM
 #5

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

Get Free Bitcoin on Crypto Account!   24/7 CryptoCurrency Trading   ▷ Check
coinft
Full Member
***
Offline Offline

Activity: 187
Merit: 100



View Profile
March 08, 2014, 11:49:01 AM
 #6

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
Sr. Member
****
Offline Offline

Activity: 448
Merit: 250


It's Money 2.0| It’s gold for nerds | It's Bitcoin


View Profile
June 15, 2014, 12:33:33 AM
 #7

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
Sr. Member
****
Offline Offline

Activity: 252
Merit: 250


View Profile WWW
June 15, 2014, 07:35:56 PM
 #8

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

▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
   * Dental Hygiene Cleaning in Toronto & Mississauga accepts Bitcoin  * Downtown Toronto Real Estate Realtor Blog & News * Toronto House Evaluation * Toronto Dental Cleaning Hygiene Centre
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
ShakyhandsBTCer
Sr. Member
****
Offline Offline

Activity: 448
Merit: 250


It's Money 2.0| It’s gold for nerds | It's Bitcoin


View Profile
June 16, 2014, 03:41:48 AM
 #9

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
Legendary
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 1582
Merit: 1000

Well hello there!


View Profile
June 16, 2014, 04:15:54 AM
 #10

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

¯¯̿̿¯̿̿'̿̿̿̿̿̿̿'̿̿'̿̿̿̿̿'̿̿̿)͇̿̿)̿̿̿̿ '̿̿̿̿̿̿\̵͇̿̿\=(•̪̀●́)=o/̵͇̿̿/'̿̿ ̿ ̿̿

Gimme the crypto!!
Malok
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 55
Merit: 0


View Profile
June 16, 2014, 07:06:26 AM
 #11

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

Hah - too funny!   Smiley
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.19 | SMF © 2006-2009, Simple Machines Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!