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Board Beginners & Help
Re: Could a super hacker make a counterfeit Bitcoin?
by
MoonShadow
on 28/02/2013, 13:46:16 UTC
Could a super hacker make a counterfeit Bitcoin?

We've all be assured by all bitcoins sources that bitcoins are unfraudable.

I'm curious after reading so many times its impossible what the general belief is at this point

what do you think? Could a super hacker make a counterfeit Bitcoin?


The simple answer is, of course, no.  You can't copy something that doesn't really exist.  But, I assume, what you mean to ask is, "could a hacker trick the network into believing that he has more bitcoins to spend than he actually does"?  The answer to that questions a "yes, sort-of".  However, the two known ways of doing so are; 1)already known and well considered and 2) extremely difficult to pull off.  Those two attack vectors are the Double Spend attack and a 51% hashrate attack.  Considering that Bitcoin now rings in at 300 Petaflops continuously dedicated to securing against a 51% attack, the only realistic vector is the Double Spend.  And that is effectively negated simply by waiting for multiple confirmations.