undefined | Better HN

0 pointsSpivak5y ago0 comments

You need a majority of computing power on the network to agree to actually do this which is what the parent means.

0 comments

No, that was the original claim. That you need the miners to agree. They are the ones that hold the computing power.

The claim I responded to says that in addition to this, you also need the majority of the "nodes", which are just computers that do no work and just forward transactions. This is incorrect, you do not need their help. It is easier if you have it, but you do not need it.

PKop5y ago

>They are the ones that hold the computing power

If they hold this power to dictate value to the market, why don't they do this right now and print infinite money for themselves?

It's because they don't actually have this power.

user-the-name5y ago

They absolutely and obviously hold that power. It is just not in their interests at the moment to rock the boat.

rand49an5y ago

The nodes are what actually enforce the rules. If you send out a transaction with 25M coins in, nodes won't broadcast that transaction and it doesn't make it to the blockchain.

yottalove5y ago

Bitcoin mining power is concentrated in China with about eight times the hash rate of number two United States, which in turn has a similar hash rate to Russia and Kazakhstan. Rounding out the top six, composing more than 90% of the total world hash rate, is Malaysia and Iran. Do you think these countries share the ideological goals of Satoshi Nakamoto's dream?

I have no doubt that a persistent 51% attack by a cartel of miners would make Bitcoin liquidity an indefinite hard zero for selected "owners" of BTC.

user-the-name5y ago

Also, many of the miners in other countries are also Chinese.

I don't think the Chinese miners follow any particular ideology here other than to extract as much money out of the bitcoin market as they can, though.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

user-the-name5y ago

No, that was the original claim. That you need the miners to agree. They are the ones that hold the computing power.

PKop5y ago

>They are the ones that hold the computing power

If they hold this power to dictate value to the market, why don't they do this right now and print infinite money for themselves?

It's because they don't actually have this power.

user-the-name5y ago

They absolutely and obviously hold that power. It is just not in their interests at the moment to rock the boat.

rand49an5y ago

The nodes are what actually enforce the rules. If you send out a transaction with 25M coins in, nodes won't broadcast that transaction and it doesn't make it to the blockchain.

yottalove5y ago

I have no doubt that a persistent 51% attack by a cartel of miners would make Bitcoin liquidity an indefinite hard zero for selected "owners" of BTC.

user-the-name5y ago

Also, many of the miners in other countries are also Chinese.

I don't think the Chinese miners follow any particular ideology here other than to extract as much money out of the bitcoin market as they can, though.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse