Re: Ethereum could afford a 51% attack on Bitcoin, and profit greatly from it
There's no point dragging the discussion into the technical details of crypto when all cyphers can be broken with a Rubber Hose / $5 Wrench attack. Russia, China and the US have nuclear weapons and tens of thousands of personnel who can force people to do things, and economic control over millions more.
The only thing stopping a 51% attack on Bitcoin now and always, is... the US government.
The only thing stopping a 51% attack on Bitcoin now and always, is... the US government.
So the US government was protecting Bitcoin from a 51% attack in 2012 and 2013 when Karpeles was running the biggest exchange in the world... That's an interesting theory
If China could do something about bitcoin and knew it was protected by the US, why didn't they? Why would they instead ban exchanges when Bitcoin was cheap and vulnerable to an attack by a rich and powerful country? As time goes by the cost of an attack will go up. There was a window to do it in the early years, but they ignored bitcoin thinking it wouldn't survive on its own. Now it's too late.
As for Russia forcing other people to do things... They can't even force one much smaller and weaker country to do what they want and give up some land.