I am selling half of my Bitcoin holdings because of Ghash

[moriartybitcoin]

Unfortunately, I'm following in Peter Todd's footsteps.  I'm a huge believer in decentralized cryptocurrency, not 'semi-decentralized' cryptocurrency.  Bitcoin needs to be TRUSTLESS for it to function as a viable and reliable currency.

Ghash.io has succeeded in centralizing Bitcoin.  Whether a 51% attack ever occurs is completely irrelevant; the POTENTIAL for such an attack makes Bitcoin extremely unreliable at this point.

Bitcoin core developers and the community need to come together to fix the Bitcoin protocol so that is no longer vulnerable to hijack by large mining pools. Until that happens, I can't fully trust Bitcoin as a value store, and neither should you.

I'm converting half of my Bitcoin to gold temporarily, and investigating other altcoins which could one day replace Bitcoin.  Cryptocurrency needs to be invulnerable to 51% attacks, or the entire theme of decentralization becomes a mockery.

Dr. Michael Moriarty

[blatchcorn]

I respect your decision, but I would wait and see if this July rally turns out to be true...

[darkota]

It'd be funny when Morarity sells half his bitcoins....and then the price skyrockets to $2,000 per coin. Ouch.

But in all seriousness, I agree.

Alt coins are way better to buy than Bitcoin, I heard Shibecoin was nice.

[moriartybitcoin]

It's not a financial decision per-se, more of a matter of principle.

I agree though - after the US Marshal sale, Bitcoin should explode upward in July and throughout the summer. I wouldn't be surprised to see prices hit $2000 by August.  Mass adoption is already occuring (Expedia, etc)

But, imagine what would happen if Ghash (or some other rogue operator or hacker who managed to gain control of Ghash) actually carried out a 51% attack.  Remember what the MtGox crash did to the price?  How would a 51% attack affect Bitcoin?  It would be a total, absolute catastrophe and I think most people would lose faith in the currency at that point.  

So I'm keeping half my Bitcoin holdings and exploring other cryptocurrencies which I think will be more viable in the future, ie those which are impervious to attack by a large mining pool.  Of course, if the Ghash issue is eventually resolved, I would consider moving the remainder of funds back into BTC.

Only time will sell ... I urge Gavin Andresen and other core developers and the Bitcoin community as a whole to band together and solve the mining pool issue once and for all.

[blatchcorn]

It's not a financial decision per-se, more of a matter of principle.

I agree though - after the US Marshal sale, Bitcoin should explode upward in July and throughout the summer. I wouldn't be surprised to see prices hit $2000 by August.  Mass adoption is already occuring (Expedia, etc)

But, imagine what would happen if Ghash (or some other rogue operator or hacker who managed to gain control of Ghash) actually carried out a 51% attack.  Remember what the MtGox crash did to the price?  How would a 51% attack affect Bitcoin?  It would be a total, absolute catastrophe and I think most people would lose faith in the currency at that point.  

So I'm keeping half my Bitcoin holdings and exploring other cryptocurrencies which I think will be more viable in the future, ie those which are impervious to attack by a large mining pool.  Of course, if the Ghash issue is eventually resolved, I would consider moving the remainder of funds back into BTC.

Only time will sell ... I urge Gavin Andresen and other core developers and the Bitcoin community as a whole to band together and solve the mining pool issue once and for all.

You could say then:

[acs267]

My god! People, what happens will happen! GHash is at what, 31% right now? Is it really still a threat? If there's a 51% attack, it happens! That's not going to change anything. But please follow the majority, and see were that gets ya. No ones holding you back, and I don't get why you had to publicly state this. Just do it.

[juju]

The attacker could only extend the chain 2 extra blocks per day over our honest chain. I was reading it would take several days worth of abusive hashing to reverse historical transactions thousands of blocks deep ( at 2 blocks per day), I think the miners in the attacking pool would notice something was wrong when they no longer are finding blocks for mulitple days straight.

https://blockchain.info/pools?timespan=24hrs  - Ghash.io is below 35% currently

With that said, I still agree we need to do something so new miners can acquire coins. Mining is largely centralized and this proves it. I would sell coins because the price is spiking downward due to the mass coin auction of Silk Road Assets and newbie 51% attack fears.

http://www.coindesk.com/ghash-io-never-launch-51-attack/

[blatchcorn]

My god! People, what happens will happen! GHash is at what, 31% right now? Is it really still a threat? If there's a 51% attack, it happens! That's not going to change anything. But please follow the majority, and see were that gets ya. No ones holding you back, and I don't get why you had to publicly state this. Just do it.

Its about sending a message  

Given that 20% of the network is unknown 31% is still a threat.  Bitcoin should be completely trustless

[Velkro]

ur decision ur bitcoins
im holding mine

[darkota]

It's because Bitcoin is mined by ASIC's, which are controlled by large ASIC farms, which are controlled by a few individuals.

Bitcoin would be much better if it was still GPU/CPU only.

[BittBurger]

Aside from creating this thread, you'll be the only one who gets the message you're trying to send.  You'll be in your house, alone, in your room, pressing the button, and the New York Times wont know.  And the Bitcoin Core dev team won't know.  And nothing will change, except you'll be 50% less bitcoin rich. 

-B-

[greenlion]

Write code instead of crying and making demands of other people.

[bluemeanie1]

why do we keep seeing announcements that people are getting OUT, while big names are clearly going IN?

-bm

[acs267]

My god! People, what happens will happen! GHash is at what, 31% right now? Is it really still a threat? If there's a 51% attack, it happens! That's not going to change anything. But please follow the majority, and see were that gets ya. No ones holding you back, and I don't get why you had to publicly state this. Just do it.

Its about sending a message  

Given that 20% of the network is unknown 31% is still a threat.  Bitcoin should be completely trustless

And we've explored approx. 7% of the ocean's floor, but you don't see me hopping to Canada because I think that that unknown piece will kill me.

What if it turns out it's not a threat, and he's the next person saying, "Sold out when I should've just stayed in"? Not trying to hold him in, but I see talking and not doing.

[moriartybitcoin]

why do we keep seeing announcements that people are getting OUT, while big names are clearly going IN?

-bm

The big names (Expedia, Overstock, King's College, etc) are indeed *GETTING IN*

But do you think they're accumulating and holding their Bitcoins?  Or cashing them out to fiat?  

I can guarantee you - 100% - that expedia is not in the business of holding Bitcoins as investment. They're cashing them out.  It's a payment method for their customers, not an investment for them. That's a huge difference.

I'm not *GETTING OUT* of Bitcoin at all.  I'm not selling my businesses; in fact I'm launching new Bitcoin sites.  I'm just not willing to hold a huge amount of my net worth (I don't use banks at all) in Bitcoin when a 51% attack could seriously damage the currency; even the threat of a 51% attack is bad enough to undermine my confidence in it.  

And, again, it's not just a financial decision, but an ideological one as well.  I don't want to be fully invested in centralized decentralized currency!

[moriartybitcoin]

It's because Bitcoin is mined by ASIC's, which are controlled by large ASIC farms, which are controlled by a few individuals.

Bitcoin would be much better if it was still GPU/CPU only.

I agree

[winit]

Please sell all your BTC.

The paranoid faction who continue to despair over Ghash are the very reason BTC is being held back.

BTC needs strong hands not overly obsessive, I'll informed, paranoid, get rich quick, freedom fighters.

Don't you see  that you would be sending a much stronger supportive message by holding your BTC than throwing your toys out of the pram at every opportunity?

Nothing happened, Ghash are not the enemy, they have invested far more than you and have no incentive to destroy that investment.

[Dacm4n]

My god! People, what happens will happen! GHash is at what, 31% right now? Is it really still a threat? If there's a 51% attack, it happens! That's not going to change anything. But please follow the majority, and see were that gets ya. No ones holding you back, and I don't get why you had to publicly state this. Just do it.

It's about getting others to panic sell.

[S4VV4S]

How many coins are we talking about and at what price are you willing to part with them?

Funny nobody else asked that.
The guy want's to dump coins and you don't want it?

[bluemeanie1]

why do we keep seeing announcements that people are getting OUT, while big names are clearly going IN?

-bm

The big names (Expedia, Overstock, King's College, etc) are indeed *GETTING IN*

But do you think they're accumulating and holding their Bitcoins?  Or cashing them out to fiat?  

I can guarantee you - 100% - that expedia is not in the business of holding Bitcoins as investment. They're cashing them out.  It's a payment method for their customers, not an investment for them. That's a huge difference.

for those businesses to accept BTC the price must be stabilized.  If it is stabilized, it is a good investment- especially when it is low(as it is right now).

seems to me what is going on is a program to get small hands out, and big hands in so they can run it up(past $1000?).

pretty much all the indicators that actually matter are saying Bitcoin is about to boom, meanwhile all the cheap, disposable and transient indicators are saying the opposite.

-bm