Topic: Bitcoin Dev Sells 50% of his Bitcoin due to 51% threat. (Read 6774 times)

This is only a developer.

No of course there is no obligation but all things being equal I would prefer the bitcoin devs to have significant bitcoin holdings so that their incentives align with mine. This is just what would benefit me personally(and anyone else holding bitcoin as an investment). I'm not saying that we should force people to hold bitcoins.

That's true it takes a set of bravery and willpower to execute a strategy even when people say your foolish for doing so.
The problems with centralized mining due to the development of ASIC's and the slowly decreasing amount of full nodes are issues that Bitcoin will need to face in future and find solutions to.

That said explaining your actions and rationale even if people don't agree is still a good thing to know.

Can't be just human nature. He knew he would be much criticized for this act and he still did it, though he could do it without anyone noticing. No, he truely started doubting Bitcoin, that's what it is. He had a plan set up in advance and he executed it, because he believes in the need for decentralization of Bitcoin more than many people who criticize him.

Just human nature.  People often feel the need to explain their actions.

I'm confused. Why did Ron Gross decide to debate the issue on GitHub? Shouldn't that debate happen on the foundations forum where the effected membership can see it? I would go there and comment but I'm not really invested in the idea of having a foundation at all. At this early stage in Bitcoin history I don't really see the need. At some point Bitcoin might grow enough that some type of professional org is necessary but that's not today.

please consider commenting on github, https://github.com/pmlaw/The-Bitcoin-Foundation-Legal-Repo/issues/10 i urge you to support the position of nwfella as a simple example of where this should go initially.  head away from centralization is better than status quo, that is for sure.

Please comment on github at https://github.com/pmlaw/The-Bitcoin-Foundation-Legal-Repo/issues/10 - I am ABISprotocol so you know how i think, but consider supporting the positions of nwfella, sosojni, and ripper234 as expressed in the issue description and later comments

Will he be buying PeerCoins with those Bitcoins?

What the heck, why would he want a reason? Is there some sort of obligation for bitcoin core devs to keep their money in bitcoins? Do they have to publicly explain when they cash out? I don't think so, it's their money they are free to do how they like.

There's a fair chance this has nothing to do with 51% and Peter Todd just felt like cashing out some coins and wanted a good sounding reason.

And we cannot forget that this problem isnt GHASH/CEX alone, there are many miners out there that point Ph/s on their pool that could easily help reduce this.

so shouldn't we get the info out? who is the the main guy behind ghash.io? does he have a seedy past? where is PG to do the dirty work?

The problem isnt that Ghash will seek to attack the network, of course they wont, this business makes them millions and millions. Ghash generates vast amounts of wealth securing the network.

The problem now is there are probably only a handful of people in the world (the owners/operators of Ghash), if not a single person, who hold the network hostage to their whimsy.

Even if these people are rational actors, it still presents a major security threat. How much do you think it would cost to finance a small security force to kidnap the owner/operators of Ghash and seize control?

It might not even cost 7 figures.

True! Most of the Bitcoin news the last 2 months has been overwhelmingly positive, this is a great time to be optimistic.   

I know, I was being facetious. The Bylaws were written to be as close to a real document as you can get without the original collection of scumbags relinquishing power. The founding members have a major time and money investment in Bitcoin and don't just want Bitcoin to be successful they want it to be successful FOR THEM. There are many reasons I never joined the foundation but the best reason for separating yourself from them is because they don't really represent the users of Bitcoin. You might complain that there are many different kinds of reasons to use Bitcoin and that they can't all be represented. That's true but the foundation can represent more than just one.

This very thread topic is the perfect example. You don't like to risk your investment on the flawed concept of PoW but aren't in favor of PoS or PoB. Great, PoS may concentrate power in the hands of the wealthy and keep coins from moving. Ok, then develop something else and implement it. Fix the problem. Foundation founders can't support that because any sweeping change to the system would risk their investment. I'm actually glad to see Ghash.Io is menacing and no one cares to change anything. It proves that Bitcoin will never change even when it faces destruction because of the power a select group of people have over it (centralization at its finest). Bitcoin will live in BetaLand forever until the updates to Bitcoin Core are numbered 0.9.9.9.9. Bitcoin will eventually fork into a shell of its former self unless someone takes action and that might not be a bad thing. All is not lost. We have plenty of competition now willing to take over.

Actually members are aware of this... I wish more people would comment on the open issue on github, though....

https://github.com/pmlaw/The-Bitcoin-Foundation-Legal-Repo/issues/10

Seems very extreme to me.  But that's just my view,  it's his money and he's free to take whatever actions he wants.

Sounds like you answered your own question.
Poor form? This is a guy who dedicated a lot of time to developing the Bitcoin system, he can do whatever he wants and speak about whatever he wants. Are the Bitcoin mind police going to come and shut him up?
 
This post shows a lot of the real problem that the BTC community has. Many of our members are like robots and just repeat the same shite and fail to dig into the issues and try and find solutions...or the BTC core dev's look the other way.
Let's get real.
There are problems and sweeping it under the rug is not going to solve it.

I agree to the poster below that way too much centralization is taking place and turning Bitcoin into something that it was not meant to be.
Say hello to the bankers and the financial guys for me.

To be honest, I have looked into Ghash.Io and I dont like anything about them, its hard to even understand their pool, and how it actually works. When I went to sign up I must first become a member of their CEX.io exchange, I dont like that at all, and I have never been able to even get into the mining aspect of their pool. Its really confusing, for me, and just seems like a big run around to me. I dont liken Ghash.io so I dont see why they are so large. I think there is more to that story than we can read on the cover. There seems to be something very weird about that Ghash.io "Pool"

And in addition, if so many people are so worried about thier 51% hashrate why do people keep joining them? and if they didnt want to hit that 51% why wouldnt they just place a stop on new members or hashrate increases on current members? see why i said there are weird things going on there. a few simple steps could stop all the nervousness, and I dont think they are taking those steps other than to say they arent trying to hit the 51% when in reality I think they are doing their best to hit it.