What set of conditions can crash blockchain or bitcoin to zero USD?

[Wokebeast]

What set of conditions (technical or socio-economic) can crash blockchain or bitcoin to zero USD? Is this notion of bitcoin crashing inconceivable at this point 10 years into its existence (so long as there is electricity and the internet)? My corollary question is: Can bitcoin be obsoleted by another cryptocurrency? What would that path of obsoletion look like for bitcoin? For example, I hear about other crypto currencies like Etherium or Lightcoin or Bitcash or Altcoin or Bitgold. What would be signs to look for that would make it prudent to cash out of Bitcoin to buy Etherium, for example.

[hatshepsut93]

Nuclear war or other similar-scale disaster that results in destruction of the Internet is the only scenario when Bitcoin can literally crash to zero. Other scenarios can lead to Bitcoin's price tanking significantly, but Bitcoin would still exist, even in your example of some superior cryptocurrency Bitcoin will still be used and as the result have value.

Now, about a better cryptocurrency - it should be fundamentally overall better than Bitcoin to dethrone it - so far various shitcoins say that having faster/bigger blocks makes them better than Bitcoin, but that's a lie aimed at people who don't understand the basics of cryptocurrency technology. If you don't educate yourself, you will not be able to truly tell if a coin is better than Bitcoin or not, so you will leave yourself vulnerable to all these scammers with their marketing teams who try their best to sell shitcoins.

[dothebeats]

Sending civilization back to the Stone Age would be the answer you're looking for. Not that I'm implying that bitcoin is too big to fail, it's just that as of right now, that's the only thing we could think of that could render bitcoin worthless.

Even if a brute-forcing method was introduced the next day, an immediate patch would be dispersed immediately in order to salvage the situation. Quantum computing as well isn't that of a threat either. A new and better version of bitcoin could oust bitcoin as the top dog for value but BTC would still have its value anywhere.

Now if we're forced to use things at hand and our tech is useless, say, on an event of a global pandemic, an upcoming extinction-level event or any other catastrophic disasters there are, do you think people will still bother tending at their bitcoins, let alone money if there are far more important things than money? I think not.

[logfiles]

The most important thing to bitcoin is the internet. At the very worst, If the internet got shut out allover the globe.
1. The nodes wouldn't be able to run/communicate
2. Mining would be impossible
3. Transactions would not be possible
4. The value/demand would consequently drop to Zero as people wouldn't be interested in buying something that doesn't work
5. The End

[DarkDays]

Well, first of all blockchain itself doesn't have a value. This is simply the technology that is used as the data structure of modern cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and most other crypto assets.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, could be crashed to zero. In order to achieve this, it would need to have either zero liquidity due to being dropped from every single exchange platform, including decentralized ones, and it would need to be untransferrable without these platforms.

In order to achieve this, it would need to be both compromised on a cryptographic scale, and banned from a regulatory standpoint. Only then, would its utility value drop to zero and become worthless.

Though even then, there are still likely to be collectors that would pay for private keys, which could help it maintain some nominal value.

[outatime1]

I think the only thing that can bring down Bitcoin at this point is if everyone abandons Bitcoin for a better cryptocurrency that has faster transactions and lower fees.  I don't think this will happen, but to me it's the only way that Bitcoin could fail at this point.

[Yamifoud]

Only it happens with the earth will collapse and nobody is alive...that sounds ridiculous.

I'd find no reason that Bitcoin would have to collapse. It is in the fact that Bitcoin is considered to be the new and most demand technology in the future. We are already been living into the new era and somewhat as fiat money will soon be obsolete and that makes cryptocurrency dumb to have an important role someday.

[cynical]

The most important thing to bitcoin is the internet. At the very worst, If the internet got shut out allover the globe.
1. The nodes wouldn't be able to run/communicate
2. Mining would be impossible
3. Transactions would not be possible
4. The value/demand would consequently drop to Zero as people wouldn't be interested in buying something that doesn't work
5. The End

Yes but in the near future we wont be reliant on the internet as we know it now!

Take SpaceX's Starlink project which from the opening text from the Starlink website states "
SpaceX is leveraging its experience in building rockets and spacecraft to deploy the world's most advanced broadband internet system."

https://www.starlink.com

The world in regards to Communication, FInance, Trade and Navigation etc. is too reliant on the Internet it simply is not going to end.

The only thing I can see ending Bitcoin is a Hack and lockdown or lockout [I dont know how that would happen or if it is possible, but in my imagination this seems quite dramatic!]

[target]

Blockchain and Bitcoin is different. Any coins we can consider crypto are using blockchain. What could be the reason why someone would want to crash BTC to zero, thats full scale hatred  

I don't think there is some condition that can crash BTC to zero unless there will be no internet at all which the world's economy also rely to it. That is nearly impossible to happen.

[Febo]

What set of conditions can crash blockchain or bitcoin to zero USD?

Fundamental flaw that could not be fixed. If it could be fixed I am sure the change would be forked into protocol, but if it could not get fixed, then would go close to zero. Not to zero, since there would be still some lunatics believe in Bitcoin. For some is like a religion.

[adaseb]

The most important thing to bitcoin is the internet. At the very worst, If the internet got shut out allover the globe.
1. The nodes wouldn't be able to run/communicate
2. Mining would be impossible
3. Transactions would not be possible
4. The value/demand would consequently drop to Zero as people wouldn't be interested in buying something that doesn't work
5. The End

The chances of the internet being shut-off around the world is pretty much impossible. Internet is sort of decentralized, one country can shut it down but not the entire planet. Making mining impossible is also "impossible" because its highly unlikely for electricity to be shut down everywhere on the planet. People need electricity to survive. Plus there are other ways of generating electricity like diesel generators.

I think the only way how BTC might go to $0 or close is if there is some quantum computer released which can solve private keys or some fault found in ECDSA encryption method. Basically its what is used to secure a BTC address with a public key using a private key.

Who knows, maybe Satoshi sending all his BTC to an exchange can cause it to crash also. All 1 million worth, not enough buy orders out there to absorb that in such a small time-frame.

[Wexnident]

Cut off the internet, which is really close to zero chances of it happening. Hell, if it did happen, I'd expect the majority of the population dead, with only a close to less than 1% of the population still remaining, and that's already me looking at it quite positively. Also, even if let's say that the market of BTC sucked, much so that the price continuously decreased everyday, as long as someone is holding it, I doubt it could reach zero USD. It would only approach that number, but never reach it.

[Ridwan Fauzi]

Is there any lightcoin in the market cryptocurrency? Please tell me where is it.

Seem like you are an altcoin fan, aren't you? But I'll tell you bitcoin will never be obsoleted, even altcoin itself will be obsoleted because in the future we will see many investor comes just invest on bitcoin.

Also, I remain firm that something who will make bitcoin and cryptocurrency as whole dissapeared is only through internet also electricity as has mentioned above. Without those things bitcoin will never be used anymore.

[Oasisman]

How can an Alpha cryptocurrency become obsolete because it was taken over by another cryptocurrency or altcoin? Basically, majority of alts prices in the market are are paired or based with Bitcoin. Now, I can't think of any possible reason why Bitcoin will become obsolete.

On the other hand, the question by the OP has already been discussed before  :

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5119335.0

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5184138.0 

   https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2614154.0

There are actually more discussions related to your question if you know how to navigate and use the search button.

[killerfrost]

Very simple, just need we go back to before 2009. At that time the whole market did not exist and Bitcoin did not have any value. In addition, the end of the world can cause this market to collapse and not be able to develop as it is now. But I want to ask you, why are you asking silly questions like this. You do not want this market to grow and help more people get profit from this market?

[topbitcoin]

What set of conditions (technical or socio-economic) can crash blockchain or bitcoin to zero USD? Is this notion of bitcoin crashing inconceivable at this point 10 years into its existence (so long as there is electricity and the internet)? My corollary question is: Can bitcoin be obsoleted by another cryptocurrency? What would that path of obsoletion look like for bitcoin? For example, I hear about other crypto currencies like Etherium or Lightcoin or Bitcash or Altcoin or Bitgold. What would be signs to look for that would make it prudent to cash out of Bitcoin to buy Etherium, for example.

I think condition where people wouldn't think anymore about internet. Because if only lost belief from people i think there are still a lot of bitcoin supporter which still use it and it still created value. Maybe something that really bad happen in a lot of countries which make internet not accessible.

[Kyraishi]

What set of conditions (technical or socio-economic) can crash blockchain or bitcoin to zero USD? Is this notion of bitcoin crashing inconceivable at this point 10 years into its existence (so long as there is electricity and the internet)? My corollary question is: Can bitcoin be obsoleted by another cryptocurrency? What would that path of obsoletion look like for bitcoin? For example, I hear about other crypto currencies like Etherium or Lightcoin or Bitcash or Altcoin or Bitgold. What would be signs to look for that would make it prudent to cash out of Bitcoin to buy Etherium, for example.

It's extremely hard to imagine such a scenario.

The worst case scenario would be some sort of catastrophic network failure occurring alongside a complete global ban on BTC. Even then, I think that there would still be a certain degree of demand for BTC when it comes to both sentimental value in terms of collectors (much like the physical coin collectors now), and people who believe that these problems will be addressed in the future.

To address your second question, it could be possible, but extremely unlikely, that any other crypto will overtake BTC in the foreseeable future. Even if one does, it would not render BTC obsolete.

[Icygreen]

What set of conditions (technical or socio-economic) can crash blockchain or bitcoin to zero USD? Is this notion of bitcoin crashing inconceivable at this point 10 years into its existence (so long as there is electricity and the internet)? My corollary question is: Can bitcoin be obsoleted by another cryptocurrency? What would that path of obsoletion look like for bitcoin? For example, I hear about other crypto currencies like Etherium or Lightcoin or Bitcash or Altcoin or Bitgold. What would be signs to look for that would make it prudent to cash out of Bitcoin to buy Etherium, for example.

I can appreciate your line of questioning. I think many, most or all of us have had to ask theses questions in our early discovery of BTC. Rightfully so, Bitcoin is not like any currency or tech we've ever experienced and anyone investing will want to know that their investment is on reasonably solid ground.  
Learning why Bitcoin is immutable & censorship resistant is the key to answering your question for yourself. Sure, everyone can give their conclusions on how it could happen, war etc. Because Bitcoin is a relatively new concept and a new proposal to value, scarcity and money in general, it requires each of us who questions it to rethink, re-learn and discover the hard fundamental values of this new digital money. It's not exactly something most people simply 'get' in their first attempts but with perseverance and decent teachers it's easier to jump into the Bitcoin rabbit hole.  
Nobody wants to miss this train but because so few are willing to understand money and value, most will miss it no less. Redefining money will take time, we are still so early.
May I suggest starting with Andreas Antonopoulos if you're not already familiar.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJWCJCWOxBYSi5DhCieLOLQ


 

[Landak]

I think it's too much and it's hard to imagine. and there are certainly many possibilities that can make bitcoin zero.
blockchain value may not be zero because this is modern technology, so it cannot be measured by value.
bitcoin can be zero if;
- the whole internet is dead (all satellites are broken)
- war throughout the world
- bitcoin prices bounce too high then no one will be able to buy it and no one will trade it because there is too much risk of bubbles bursting.

[FairUser]

I think it's too much and it's hard to imagine. and there are certainly many possibilities that can make bitcoin zero.
blockchain value may not be zero because this is modern technology, so it cannot be measured by value.
bitcoin can be zero if;
- the whole internet is dead (all satellites are broken)
- war throughout the world
- bitcoin prices bounce too high then no one will be able to buy it and no one will trade it because there is too much risk of bubbles bursting.

If the world war were to happen I think Bitcoin and this whole market would go up crazy,  do you remember the war between the United States and Iran in early 2020? it has helped this market go up like it is now, and in addition, if the price of bitcoin goes up, then everyone's demand will increase and they will keep it like gold. The only way for this market to collapse is that bitcoin has become a scam, but it certainly will never happen