Quote from: CurbsideProphet on July 01, 2011, 10:04:21 PM

Quote from: andes on July 01, 2011, 09:43:05 PM

Quote from: Valen on July 01, 2011, 09:09:11 PM

obviously it would take a lot of effort/money that probably only a government could pull off.

Right now you dont need a government, only a couple of tens of millions of dollars.

To put that in perspective, only in the USA right now, there are 1 million people that have a net worth of more than 10 million dollars. If a handfull of those wanted to harm bitcoin, they could.

Also the supercomputer argument is a known fallacy. Its a catchy phrase but does not make bitcoin less vulnerable to brute hashing attacks for the moment. The supercomputer argument is debunked in the thread above.

I'd rather see the number of Americans with LIQUIDITY in excess of $10 million. Net worth factors in long term, illiquid assets. I get your point though, I just think you're using the wrong metric.

I am not using the wrong metric. You can convert any asset to money given enough time. I am not saying they have to make an attack within a certain deadline. And I am being conservative, because you could even get a loan to make the attack, so even more people would qualify.