The algorithm is open ... however it was produced by a politically motivated government branch that seems to harbouring a cynical bunch of criminal bastards ... do your own due diligence, if you don't have to deal with them why bother?
Well we do have to "deal with SHA-2" as a change to a different hashing algorithm would be a hard fork and that isn't going to happen.
Actually I believe it could happen. And it should happen if SHA-2 was compromised, that was always the plan but right now
SHA-2 is NOT compromised. The NSA may have some shortcuts and could exploit random number generator issues (including backdoors in those) but a clear get the private key from the public one is not possible at this time.
Changing the algo was ALWAYS planned in Bitcoin if it was compromised.
You do realize what a change in algo would mean? All the asics will become paperweights and the network will go back to gpu mining. Leaving the network less protected for the NSA or a third party to do a 51% attack. Not to mention all the asic manufacturers will bankrupt...
It is possible, but the consequences will be huge...
I think though that even if bitcoin is cracked by the nsa, they will not bring it down. They will exploit such crack in their benefit. Just remember governments don't destroy assets or money, they confiscate it. They will even try to make it look like they seized the btc by other means, making their backdoor last for as long as they can.
Whats the point in investing millions on cracking a cryptocurrency in order to kill it and let the next one arise and start all over again?
Greediness and power are two important factors in conspiracy theories. The NSA cracking btc to kill it lacks both...
But then again that is just my theory...