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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Scoresby OP 1h \ parent \ on: The part of Bitcoin you *have* to trust bitcoin
I think that BItcoin mining does have some strong centralizing pressures: latency in new block announcements and variance both favor larger miners. So a single miner gaining 51% or more of the hashrate is a real concern in my mind.
Game theory tells me that miners are better off making bitcoin network stronger rather than joining forces in a 51% attack to kill it.
I'm curious to hear an elaboration of this. I'm not well-versed in game theory.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @SwapMarket 10m
In a nutshell: A successful 51% attack will let the miners reverse payments and steal coins, but kill the trust in the network and crush bitcoin price. So the attackers gain nothing but a pile of worthless coins and useless hardware they cannot sell. And if they short shit ton of bitcoin before the attack they must be absolutely sure it works. This cannot be done stealthily, so others will see and have double motivation to thwart the attack, squeezing the shorts while saving the network and the value of their ASICs.
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