What is the best way to destroy bitcoin?

[da2ce7]

send them to a bitcoin address called "coins_go_here_to_die"

[pof]

Governments declaring Bitcoin Exchanges illegal due to money laundering, at the same time shutting down MtGox and confiscate all the bitcoins in it.
Then the price will go under 50 cent and a lot of people would stop using bitcoins, like after the last year bubble but this time forever...
I think it will be not so difficult...

[Gabi]

Bettered this forum answer this question then someone who really want to destroy bitcoin.

51% attack, spend some millions, get enough hashing power, do a 51% attack. Byebye bitcoin.

[mystery2048]

No jjames, they can send it to 1HWMQv2VYviAgpy6NWNvVg9JhKm4zcMGS5 instead

For real though... They can either buy up the exchanges and shut them down, or if their the government, go and confiscate all their equipment and impose punishment on the owners...

[Piper67]

Easy, they can destroy bitcoin the same way they destroyed bit torrent... Oh wait... Yeah, better shut down the Internet then.

EMP wouldn't work, unless it's so massive we'd all have much bigger problems. 

[adamstgBit]

Three little words...

Eeee Emm Pee.

what?

EMP

well your EMP wont do shit to my paper wallet now will it

HA bitcoin for the win!

[AmazonStuff]

Bitcoin will evolve and become immune to all kinds of threats. I'm sure that in a few years btc will be online currency No.1.

[hazek]

Easy, they can destroy bitcoin the same way they destroyed bit torrent... Oh wait... Yeah, better shut down the Internet then.

That's a false comparison if you are honest.

First bittorrent is by a huge amount more decentralized than Bitcoin, and the decentralization of Bitcoin is shrinking, not growing.

Second bittorrent does not depend on frictionless integration with the traditional banking system like most of exchanging of fiat currency for bitcoins does which is what gives them there current exchange price.

It's unfortunately fairly easy to at the least significantly diminish the value of bitcoins and the use of Bitcoin if not out right destroying it by simply legislating it away. You forbid banks to accept funds coming from businesses dealing with bitcoins and label those few left who'd still do the mining as terrorists and hunt them down.

Of course when I say fairly easy I'm talking about the effects of such legislation not the difficulty of passing it all over the world and have it stick.. but this is something we will find out because there's not a shred of doubt in my mind they'll try to legislate it whether as an outright attack or in an attempt to control it.

[paraipan]

Three little words...

Eeee Emm Pee.

what?

EMP

well your EMP wont do shit to my paper wallet now will it

HA bitcoin for the win!

Keeping backups on CD's here and heard some usb pen drives have extra shielding that help withstand a magnetic pulse.

[nedbert9]

For governments to prosecute merchants who accept it.

[LoupGaroux]

Three little words...

Eeee Emm Pee.

what?

EMP

well your EMP wont do shit to my paper wallet now will it

HA bitcoin for the win!

Good luck moving that paper wallet through a non-existent blockchain that just got trashed with my universal global EMP Ray Of Electronical Destruction.

HA unspeakable Evil for the riposte! 

[bg002h]

I think it would happen in a defamation, hysteria, legislation cycle. Throw in a few high profile prosecutions/imprisonments/assassinations (presumably of "terrorists").

US would forbid citizens to own or trade BTC and throw them in jail if they do (tough to prove a person guilty, so new privacy invading laws will be needed).  That would delay Bitcoins adoption...maybe by several years, IMHO.

[Hexadecibel]

What is the best way to destroy bitcoin?

Nuke it from orbit.

Its the only way to be sure.

[andrewbadr]

I take "destroy" to mean a near-zero market-cap and no real use of Bitcoin. Legislation and other forms of suppression can't achieve that, though they would drive the price down.

1. The most likely way Bitcoin could be destroyed would be the release and adoption of a superior protocol that serves the same purposes as Bitcoin. I'd put the probability of this happening in the next five years at over 10%.

2. Some emergent behavior of mining incentives makes it easier for some entity to control the block chain. Maybe mining pools get huge. Maybe mining gets taken over by specialized hardware.

3. Some cryptographic flaw in the protocol is discovered. (Seems very unlikely at this point.)

[notme]

I take "destroy" to mean a near-zero market-cap and no real use of Bitcoin. Legislation and other forms of suppression can't achieve that, though they would drive the price down.

1. The most likely way Bitcoin could be destroyed would be the release and adoption of a superior protocol that serves the same purposes as Bitcoin. I'd put the probability of this happening in the next five years at over 10%.

2. Some emergent behavior of mining incentives makes it easier for some entity to control the block chain. Maybe mining pools get huge. Maybe mining gets taken over by specialized hardware.

3. Some cryptographic flaw in the protocol is discovered. (Seems very unlikely at this point.)

History shows making things illegal makes their price go up, not down.

[paraipan]

I take "destroy" to mean a near-zero market-cap and no real use of Bitcoin. Legislation and other forms of suppression can't achieve that, though they would drive the price down.

1. The most likely way Bitcoin could be destroyed would be the release and adoption of a superior protocol that serves the same purposes as Bitcoin. I'd put the probability of this happening in the next five years at over 10%.

2. Some emergent behavior of mining incentives makes it easier for some entity to control the block chain. Maybe mining pools get huge. Maybe mining gets taken over by specialized hardware.

3. Some cryptographic flaw in the protocol is discovered. (Seems very unlikely at this point.)

History shows making things illegal makes their price go up, not down.

+1, Look what happened with the alcohol prohibition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_during_and_after_prohibition

[hazek]

I take "destroy" to mean a near-zero market-cap and no real use of Bitcoin. Legislation and other forms of suppression can't achieve that, though they would drive the price down.

1. The most likely way Bitcoin could be destroyed would be the release and adoption of a superior protocol that serves the same purposes as Bitcoin. I'd put the probability of this happening in the next five years at over 10%.

2. Some emergent behavior of mining incentives makes it easier for some entity to control the block chain. Maybe mining pools get huge. Maybe mining gets taken over by specialized hardware.

3. Some cryptographic flaw in the protocol is discovered. (Seems very unlikely at this point.)

History shows making things illegal makes their price go up, not down.

That's a bit of an ignorant observation to the demand side of the supply/demand equation that determines a price. It's a hell of a lot different to make something illegal that it being illegal likely isn't going to diminish it's demand than it is to make something illegal that it being illegal is very likely to severely diminish it's demand.

[notme]

I take "destroy" to mean a near-zero market-cap and no real use of Bitcoin. Legislation and other forms of suppression can't achieve that, though they would drive the price down.

1. The most likely way Bitcoin could be destroyed would be the release and adoption of a superior protocol that serves the same purposes as Bitcoin. I'd put the probability of this happening in the next five years at over 10%.

2. Some emergent behavior of mining incentives makes it easier for some entity to control the block chain. Maybe mining pools get huge. Maybe mining gets taken over by specialized hardware.

3. Some cryptographic flaw in the protocol is discovered. (Seems very unlikely at this point.)

History shows making things illegal makes their price go up, not down.

That's a bit of an ignorant observation to the demand side of the supply/demand equation that determines a price. It's a hell of a lot different to make something illegal that it being illegal likely isn't going to diminish it's demand than it is to make something illegal that it being illegal is very likely to severely diminish it's demand.

I find it unlikely demand will be diminished long term.  It may take time for everyone to move to TOR/I2P/Etc., but its usefulness won't be damaged, just the barrier to entry.

[hazek]

That's very dishonest when you look at how many demand orders currently stand on all the exchange combined compared to all the other options for acquiring bitcoins. Removing all this demand would instantly crash the price but also remove some of it's usefulness gained through the current low barrier to entry.

[Gareth Nelson]

Best way to destroy bitcoin:

Refuse to trade with it, mine it and do nothing else other than sell your gains