Fake Bitcoin

[rapsaodan84]

I'm no expert but I don't think it's possible to have fake Botcoins in the real block chain.

Only way I see is to create an alt coin called Bitcoin too, with the same address format. Then have someone install a wallet and think it's the real Bitcoin.

[phillipsjk]

One thing that convinced me that Bitcoin was here to stay was learning that Gold is easier to counterfeit.

One thing that concerns me is the Concentration of hash-power.

Having more than half the hash-power allows you to re-write history to the last check-point of about January 7^th. They would not be able to make fake Bitcoins; but they could make it so that the Bitcoins you acquired in the last few months never existed. The farther you want to go back, the more time/hash-power you would need: all the "proof-of-work" in the blocks to be re-written would have to be re-done.

TL:DR Fake Bitcoins are not possible. In a degenerate network (with a bad actor controlling the majority of the hash-power), the real ones are not worth the paper they are printed on.

[davien]

hope not. at least one thing that is still clear from faking !

[Beliathon]

The more popular bitcoin gets the more and more scams, virus's, wallet stealers and all that bad stuff their is going to be.

just make sure you do not open wierd emails or go to to many porn sites (they alllways seem to inject some kind of bad shit via java)

It's called cold storage. Learn it, know it, love it.

Or if you're from the US, just use Coinbase. I've been with them for over a year and have had 0 issues. I would work for this company actually, except that I really like my freetime and I live on the wrong side of the country.

[ajareselde]

Im not sure that is possible atm, but in few years sure, you may never know.

understanding how bitcoin works says otherwise.
so far the only way you could cheat the network is via 51% attack, and both pools and comunity will react to protect bitcoin in that case.
but who knows, we may also see new attacks in the future, but thats why we have devs to controll and avoid such moves.

[ShakyhandsBTCer]

There is the "test net" that is a network that uses the same code as bitcoin but is used to test how the network would react to certain things.

[QuestionAuthority]

Nah, you would know right away. Just hold the Bitcoin up to the light. There's a watermark image of Satoshi smoking a blunt he bought from SR.

[franky1]

if you stick with the main proper wallets there is no chance of doing any fake bitcoin.

if you use a different wallet. then that 'fake' is..... just another altcoin.

if its not bitcoin, its an altcoin, simple as.

a prime example is bitcoin script, bitcoin 2.0 both of which pretend to be bitcoin, but are not

What if someone made a a complete replica and starting a phishing website similar to the fake blockchain.info or they made a new bitcoin wallet websitethat was on google, so people created accounts there thinking it was the real bitcoin, when it was the fake bitcoin, and they let the scam go on for a while until the site gained a lot of activity, and they   eventually convinced exchanges to update their wallets to the fake bitcoin wallets on the site, thus spreading the fake bitcoin even more.

bitcoin script tried this (even with a website saying they are selling bitcoins cheaper then common bitcoin price).

.. but the point is any replica is not bitcoin.. its an altcoin. even if the chain shows the same back history of transactions. if its not bitcoin, its an altcoin. replica's (fork of bitcoin) become an altcoin or die. the other fork that the consensus continue to use is the real bitcoin. anything else is just not bitcoin. so you cant fake bitcoins(the coin) but you can make altcoins to be presumed as being a bitcoin.

[acs267]

So like double spend, but one that you can keep? Surprisingly, I think the idea would be cool and also not cool. Anything is possible with Bitcoin, so we should see.

[ShakyhandsBTCer]

if you stick with the main proper wallets there is no chance of doing any fake bitcoin.

if you use a different wallet. then that 'fake' is..... just another altcoin.

if its not bitcoin, its an altcoin, simple as.

a prime example is bitcoin script, bitcoin 2.0 both of which pretend to be bitcoin, but are not

What if someone made a a complete replica and starting a phishing website similar to the fake blockchain.info or they made a new bitcoin wallet websitethat was on google, so people created accounts there thinking it was the real bitcoin, when it was the fake bitcoin, and they let the scam go on for a while until the site gained a lot of activity, and they   eventually convinced exchanges to update their wallets to the fake bitcoin wallets on the site, thus spreading the fake bitcoin even more.

This happens all the time, only it is not to create a fake bitcoin but rather to steal credentials to user's blockchian.info wallet

[franky1]

So like double spend, but one that you can keep? Surprisingly, I think the idea would be cool and also not cool. Anything is possible with Bitcoin, so we should see.

i have just had this discussion in the double spend thread. and come to the conclsion that double spends cant happen. but people can send fakes to multiple destinations where only one is legit (confirmed) and the others are left as unuseable counterfeits (unconfirmed). its up to the recipient to check (wait for confirm) whether its legit or a counterfeit.

a double spend:
imagine a bank note, you give it to a cashier. and buy a ice-tea. the cashier in a moment of panic accidently gives you back that whole banknote back as change. you then buy a cake from another shop. at the end of the day the ice-tea cashier is missing a bank note. and is at a loss. because there is only one bank note that has been spent twice

human error counterfeit:
however. what most people perceive as a bitcoin double spend is where the sender sends 2 exact same bank notes (copies) one to a ice-tea shop and one to a cake shop. where only 1 of those recipient confirms its a legit bank note which thy can re-use later, and the other realises they got a dud counterfeit that will never be confirmed as a real bank note that they can never then spend later.

so its not a double spend.. its a human error to not confirm counterfeits

because these so called 'double spends' are on separate tx's they are not the same coin being confirmed twice as being real. but 2 copies where only one is real, thus the other is the counterfeit. so its important to atleast 1-confirm coins. the blockchain will never confirm a counterfeit. but humans can be in too much of a hurry to confirm its real and spendable

[twistyfy]

Hello all,
I am wandering if there is or is there will be in the future fake BTC. I dont mean some alt coin, but fake BTC which someone can send you to your wallet. It will be not as easy as print fake money and give them to someone. But who knows, may be in the future there will be such thing which will cause trouble to the network...What is your opinion?
BR
Gondel

Anyone can be conned over the internet. Why would BTC be any exception?

[Sniar]

I heard of stolen /hacked bitcoin but not fake bitcoin.

How is it possible ?

[Syke]

All bitcoins have a history stored in the blockchain. Any "fake" bitcoins will not have a history there, and as such, the software automatically detects such fakes.