Post
Topic
Board Bitcoin Discussion
Re: Is it good or bad that Core development is virtually controlled by one company?
by
gmaxwell
on 09/02/2016, 02:07:14 UTC
Of course nodes could ignore their blocks, and holders can dump their coins.
There is no need to dump any coins. The nodes _will_ ignore their blocks, as that is the very design of the Bitcoin system-- embodied in every implementation ever shipped; one which _completely_ deprives the ability of miners (even a super-majority) to carry out a broad spectrum of coercively acts against the users of the system. These protections are an essential part of the economic balance which keeps miners honest. Saying "if you shit it up, people will take huge losses (since-- who will buy if everyone knows its screwed) selling out and use something else" is a pretty fringe protection... as a concrete example it's one which has been fairly ineffectual in constraining the monetary policy of popular currencies.

Quote
Miners are incentivized by the market to make decisions, they don't make these decisions in a vacuum free of consequence.
I never suggested they did-- quite the opposite. Rather, I point out that the consequence of failing to comply with the hard rules set by the users of the system is that their hashpower is completely discarded while the users notice _nothing_ (except, perhaps, some slower confirmations for a few weeks or until they get a clue).