Why 51% hashrate is a good thing

[PetePete]

I know everyone is freaking out and alarm bells should be ringing, but correct me if im wrong there has never been a 51 hash rate reached before? If so its perfect timing that this is happening now, we get to see with our own eyes what happens with the protocol once a 51% hashrate is reached before Bitcoin goes mainstream. Its all part of the experiment. Im sure this issues will be revolved and we may never reach 51% again. In the mean time the price is dropping as people are panic selling. I say now is the time to buy At the bare minimum HODL!

[PetePete]

Wouldn't this also be a good opportunity to implement any changes for efficiency issues to the protocol now that mining power is cornered?

[ljudotina]

I know everyone is freaking out and alarm bells should be ringing, but correct me if im wrong there has never been a 51 hash rate reached before?

Not true, happened before....noone exploded or died because of it....

[Meni Rosenfeld]

Deepbit had over 50% before.

[BitCoinDream]

I know everyone is freaking out and alarm bells should be ringing, but correct me if im wrong there has never been a 51 hash rate reached before? If so its perfect timing that this is happening now, we get to see with our own eyes what happens with the protocol once a 51% hashrate is reached before Bitcoin goes mainstream. Its all part of the experiment. Im sure this issues will be resolved and we may never reach 51% again. In the mean time the price is dropping as people are panic selling. I say now is the time to buy At the bare minimum HODL!

I am reading how this issue can be resolved - by Gavin

[BitCoinDream]

Deepbit had over 50% before.

In the pie chart below, I dont see deepbit anywhere around at this moment. What happened to them ?

[lg15x]

I have to sell some bitcoin for peercoin now for avoiding some risk. Hopefully we can get through.

[david123]

In the pie chart below, I dont see deepbit anywhere around at this moment. What happened to them ?

They are history, and for a reason. They still owe me coins, I never got an answer to
my mails. I think at some point the owner decided to completely stop caring about his pool.

[joshraban76]

May I understand, why there is a panic of 51% hash rate reached, I still can't get the point.

[bitsmichel]

May I understand, why there is a panic of 51% hash rate reached, I still can't get the point.

if a single entity contributed the majority of the network’s mining hashrate, they would have full control of the network and would be able to manipulate the public ledger (blockchain) at will.  http://learncryptography.com/51-attack/


GHash is at 45% now  https://blockchain.info/pools?timespan=6hrs

[BitCoinDream]

May I understand, why there is a panic of 51% hash rate reached, I still can't get the point.

Suppose u & me has made a deal that I'll give u 1 BTC and u'll sell me a website. Now, if I have understanding with the 51% hash power holder GHash.IO, I can send u 1 BTC, take your website's credentials, again send 1 BTC to GHash.IO. GHash.IO will accept the 1 BTC I sent to them and not u. Now they can send me back 0.5 BTC. So, in effect I get my job done with 0.5 BTC, whereas I am supposed to pay 1 BTC.

[david123]

if a single entity contributed the majority of the network’s mining hashrate, they would have full control of the network and would be able to manipulate the public ledger (blockchain) at will.  http://learncryptography.com/51-attack/

This is just wrong. Having 51% (or better: 50,0001%) just opens up the possibility of pushing through a fork, e.g. double-spending your own(!) coins.
And there's no way they could do so in secret. Hell would break loose within hours if not minutes. Ghash.io could only hurt itself
with such an attempt.

To have full control and freely manipulate the public ledger you need 100% and all private keys.

I understand that it looks a bit nasty that ghash.io grew that big, but I don't see how this poses a serious threat at this point..

[BitCoinDream]

In the pie chart below, I dont see deepbit anywhere around at this moment. What happened to them ?

They are history, and for a reason. They still owe me coins, I never got an answer to
my mails. I think at some point the owner decided to completely stop caring about his pool.

Can u please point me a link to that history ? Were they on this forum ? I would like to know more about them...

[ClutchThese]

if a single entity contributed the majority of the network’s mining hashrate, they would have full control of the network and would be able to manipulate the public ledger (blockchain) at will.  http://learncryptography.com/51-attack/

This is just wrong. Having 51% (or better: 50,0001%) just opens up the possibility of pushing through a fork, e.g. double-spending your own(!) coins.
And there's no way they could do so in secret. Hell would break loose within hours if not minutes. Ghash.io could only hurt itself
with such an attempt.

To have full control and freely manipulate the public ledger you need 100% and all private keys.

I understand that it looks a bit nasty that ghash.io grew that big, but I don't see how this poses a serious threat at this point..

I'd have to agree with you for the time being.  Obviously, it's not good to "trust" any site. But i highly doubt anything will happen. They're making WAY too much money off having this much control of the network.

[bitsmichel]

if a single entity contributed the majority of the network’s mining hashrate, they would have full control of the network and would be able to manipulate the public ledger (blockchain) at will.  http://learncryptography.com/51-attack/

This is just wrong. Having 51% (or better: 50,0001%) just opens up the possibility of pushing through a fork, e.g. double-spending your own(!) coins.
And there's no way they could do so in secret. Hell would break loose within hours if not minutes. Ghash.io could only hurt itself
with such an attempt.

To have full control and freely manipulate the public ledger you need 100% and all private keys.

I understand that it looks a bit nasty that ghash.io grew that big, but I don't see how this poses a serious threat at this point..

I'd have to agree with you for the time being.  Obviously, it's not good to "trust" any site. But i highly doubt anything will happen. They're making WAY too much money off having this much control of the network.

ok, had copied it from the site   Makes sense they can't spend the money without owning the private keys

[david123]

Can u please point me a link to that history ? Were they on this forum ? I would like to know more about them...

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3889.0

[joshraban76]

May I understand, why there is a panic of 51% hash rate reached, I still can't get the point.

Suppose u & me has made a deal that I'll give u 1 BTC and u'll sell me a website. Now, if I have understanding with the 51% hash power holder GHash.IO, I can send u 1 BTC, take your website's credentials, again send 1 BTC to GHash.IO. GHash.IO will accept the 1 BTC I sent to them and not u. Now they can send me back 0.5 BTC. So, in effect I get my job done with 0.5 BTC, whereas I am supposed to pay 1 BTC.

I didn't get that to the end. I just want to understand the 0.5 and 1 BTC.

Again please, if you don't mind.

[BitCoinDream]

May I understand, why there is a panic of 51% hash rate reached, I still can't get the point.

Suppose u & me has made a deal that I'll give u 1 BTC and u'll sell me a website. Now, if I have understanding with the 51% hash power holder GHash.IO, I can send u 1 BTC, take your website's credentials, again send 1 BTC to GHash.IO. GHash.IO will accept the 1 BTC I sent to them and not u. Now they can send me back 0.5 BTC. So, in effect I get my job done with 0.5 BTC, whereas I am supposed to pay 1 BTC.

I didn't get that to the end. I just want to understand the 0.5 and 1 BTC.

Again please, if you don't mind.

In simple term, the 51% network hashrate provides monopoly (51% probability) to the miner to mine blocks. So they decide which Tx to include in their blocks and which not. Now, they can write code in their system to completely filter out your Bitcoin address so that any incoming Tx to your address will never get confirmed. So the person sending U bitcoin can re-use their coins. This is called double spending, where your coins never get confirmed because of the bad miner with 51% power.

[ljudotina]

May I understand, why there is a panic of 51% hash rate reached, I still can't get the point.

Suppose u & me has made a deal that I'll give u 1 BTC and u'll sell me a website. Now, if I have understanding with the 51% hash power holder GHash.IO, I can send u 1 BTC, take your website's credentials, again send 1 BTC to GHash.IO. GHash.IO will accept the 1 BTC I sent to them and not u. Now they can send me back 0.5 BTC. So, in effect I get my job done with 0.5 BTC, whereas I am supposed to pay 1 BTC.

I didn't get that to the end. I just want to understand the 0.5 and 1 BTC.

Again please, if you don't mind.

In simple term, the 51% network hashrate provides monopoly (51% probability) to the miner to mine blocks. So they decide which Tx to include in their blocks and which not. Now, they can write code in their system to completely filter out your Bitcoin address so that any incoming Tx to your address will never get confirmed. So the person sending U bitcoin can re-use their coins. This is called double spending, where your coins never get confirmed because of the bad miner with 51% power.

If coins never get confirmed, than they are not pend so person sending him coins is not double spending....well it is if he is stupid enough to give his goods and or services with 0 confirmations. But as noone that does serious business is that stupid, this is not a problem.

[lihuajkl]

First time reach 51% hash rate which will push the bitcoin foundation to find a solution to avoid this problem.