Who might realistically pose a threat to bitcoin?

[kiba]

Bitcoin is not a threat to Banks, Banks are a threat to themselves.
If you think about it, what is a bank? Its a glorified spread sheet.
There is no proof of work behind digital money. The balance of your bank account is just a field in a database. That's it. There is no magic.

Any threat that is perceived by bitcoin simply comes from the lack of complexity by those "offended" by it.

The entire global banking system is based on 1960's technology, sure its been upgraded since, but they are just upgrading the same basic framework. No fundamental changes have been made.

Banks are too attached to their mainframe and their existing business, as well being too slow to react to anything.

If the CEO know what's good for his business, he would create a skunkwork division and plans to sell off everybody else to all the other banks once the skunkwork division is profitable.

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[majamalu]

Remember that the government is nothing but a group of individuals, each guarding their own interests. Those who are more invested in the current monetary system, and have more access to inside information, will certainly want to protect themselves from the looming collapse. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that some members of the political class are already investing in bitcoins.

[benjamindees]

It would take a government to stop Bitcoin.  A large government.

[niko]

Remember that the government is nothing but a group of individuals, each guarding their own interests. Those who are more invested in the current monetary system, and have more access to inside information, will certainly want to protect themselves from the looming collapse. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that some members of the political class are already investing in bitcoins.

+1

[cbeast]

A government would need a very good reason to attack the network. If they choose to attack for only reasons of fear, then other big countries would smell that fear and support BTC. Bitcoin is taking over. The first nation that flinches, loses.

[phungus]

I worry about this but only because I've seen so many crazy natural disasters over my short lifetime and it's a real possibility.

If "The Big One" (a large earthquake) hits the West (or East?!) Coast of the Continental United States, we will lose a significant portion of the Bitcoin network all at once. We might also possibly lose a large portion of the brain talent that is invested in this protocol.

If 25% of the lead developers were to suddenly disappear, I'm worried that all of the drama and tension built up in this community over the last year or two might not be conducive to getting the core software development effort back on track. We have a stellar group of individuals hammering out code and we all trust them to make good decisions for the future of Bitcoin.

We've got some of the largest wildfires in recorded history burning right now, we've had more "mini" earthquakes all over the country than I've ever heard of before, they are polluting a large percentage of our ground water supplies with environmentally questionable (toxic?) hydraulic fracturing techniques... It is not impossible that we could suffer some serious setbacks to our community effort from within just through attrition in the next few years or decades.

-p

[cbeast]

I worry about this but only because I've seen so many crazy natural disasters over my short lifetime and it's a real possibility.

If "The Big One" (a large earthquake) hits the West (or East?!) Coast of the Continental United States, we will lose a significant portion of the Bitcoin network all at once. We might also possibly lose a large portion of the brain talent that is invested in this protocol.

That brings difficulty down and more Bitcoin my way! j/k Of course I would donate much of my time and money to help the victims.

If 25% of the lead developers were to suddenly disappear, I'm worried that all of the drama and tension built up in this community over the last year or two might not be conducive to getting the core software development effort back on track. We have a stellar group of individuals hammering out code and we all trust them to make good decisions for the future of Bitcoin.

It's open source. There are plenty of "Anonymous" folks out there to keep it real.

We've got some of the largest wildfires in recorded history burning right now, we've had more "mini" earthquakes all over the country than I've ever heard of before, they are polluting a large percentage of our ground water supplies with environmentally questionable (toxic?) hydraulic fracturing techniques... It is not impossible that we could suffer some serious setbacks to our community effort from within just through attrition in the next few years or decades.

-p

There are always disasters. I don't see the connection with BTC or any other currency. I'm surprised you left out total global thermonuclear war, now that might affect the Bitcoin Network a bit.

[phungus]

It's open source. There are plenty of "Anonymous" folks out there to keep it real.

Yes, and most of them I wouldn't trust with a 10 foot pole to carry on a project of this magnitude. There are so many trust issues at stake here it's nutty.

There are still not THAT many people who have the skills necessary to analyze the Bitcoin software stack from such a high level as to make intelligent decisions for the community at large. This is a very, very tall order and there are very, very few geeks capable of maintaining integrity.

Yes, it's open source, but what if there comes a time when we don't have enough qualified people around to make the *right* decisions?

I think that is really one of the biggest threats; corruption from within. If times get tough, people might get desperate.

Maybe not. It could be thermo-nuclear war, like you said. :-)

-p