Topic: Bitcoin Hack? &Competitors? (Read 1609 times)

its been 6 years and bitcoin is 33 gigabytes, thats because although 1mb blocks have a potential of 52gb a year fill... so you would think bitcoin was 300gb... yet so far most blocks are only 20% or less filled (on average).

even if bitcoin moved to a 20mb block is only a 1 terrabyte a year POTENTIAL fill. these days a 3TB drive (atleast 3 years potential) is available in most shops and in 3 years time even bigger sizes will be available.

its like people complained that the internet wont expand due to 56k modems.. yet ADSL and fibre came along..

all you need to know is right now the blockchain can fit on your finger

the 51% attack is not a "hack".. but if you think about it analogically, a laymans geek speak would be a DDOS attack.

it can only affect bitcoin if someone has enough hash power to control it, and can only last while those that have the power can maintain it.

it can only affect incoming transactions as they appear, and attempts to change old transactions would require alot more hash power and computing to attempt to alter past blocks, confirm them and then catch back up to the latest block number.

to change the last block the hash power needs to be 2x the 51% to be able to confirm last block and current block before other pools. to change a block 2 blocks back requires 3x the 51% hash amount .. so if they only have 51% they can only change live blocks. if they have 102% hash they can only alter transactions from 10 minutes ago..
in short, the only possible attack damage would be a DDOS type (denying users tx's to be added)

and if a 51% was to happen. most retailers and exchanges would become very cautious about deposits and withdrawals, and retailers would become cautious about purchases. but as fast as an attacker can try getting control there are many moral miners who would throw all their hashpower away from the dominating pool to counter the 51%.
aswell ofcourse, as many programmers that are all looking into different methods of preventing a dominating control.

Trying to build more trust (or credibility) in the currency.

Is it safe to say that Bitcoin is...

Number one
Here to stay
Unstoppable
Error-proof
Double spend impossile
Hack-proof
Inflation-proof
(And anything else anyone wants to add to this list)

Also I saw something in the news recently about how the data or something is growing to large and will eventually overload Bitcoin...

NO, Bitcoin is an open source project.
That means that it's code is available for reviewing by anyone: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin

If any of the developers tried to exploit it, it will be seen by the other developers or basically anyone that is reviewing the code.

he was talking probably about their storage coin, it should fuction like burst coin, you use space of your hard disk to mine, but it was annunced by microsoft not really Bill gates

So, this has been on my mind for some time and I think this thread fits..

Developers. They update and modify the Bitcoin protocol? We call them Dev's or The DevTeam. What do they do exactly? And if 'they' can make changes to the functionality of Bitcoin...  isn't it possible for a Dev to maliciously destroy or sabotage Bitcoin??

So that is one thing that has been on my mind..

The other is the fear of Bitcoins nemesis..... is this Dashcoin a threat..?
Or doesn't stand a chance?

Also...will litecoin remain superior to dashcoin?

Sorry, lot of questions. I like to bring my concerns on Bitcoin here to discuss as there are many wise Bitcoin enthusiasts here.

they did research blockchain technology, permacoin

I really don't think Microsoft plans to release its own altcoin.   I suspect Bill would like to have a product in place that competes with ApplePay, and seeing that Microsoft is now the largest corporation in the world that accepts bitcoin, bitcoin will probably be a part of MicrosoftPay.

Bitcoin is an open source P2P Project mate . so the code it self is public and there is no need to hack anyone to get it . so It's impossible to hack Bitcoin , well you can hack exchangers and hack their database to steal other people money of course .
I personally don't think that any Alternative coin have any chance against Bitcoin , for me they are all some cheap copies and Bitcoin is the original thing . If I had to choose then I will go for DarkCoin since it's full Annonymity

~ Madness


No he is not as far as I know , I guess you missunderstood what he said on TV . Even if he does it won't be a competitor to Bitcoin , He will probably release it with the name of Microsoft and Microsoft is always supporting NSA and those intelligences so there is no way it will be Decentralized and annonymus .

Where did you hear that? I searched and didn't see it anywhere.

What is that?
billcoin ?

Bill Gates plans to release a new digital currency soon. I am sure that will be a competitor to Bitcoin.
Lets see what ahppens.

As the trend in previous years, malware developers will still find a gap that can be used to enter and inject its development program results. Bitcoin or currency that is now being used in the virtual world will again be targeted in 2015.

Bitcoin is also predicted to be the ransom demanded by the spreader ransomware. In the early 2014, an attack managed to break SecureMac sites, where users are infected MacOS Bitcoin miner. Initially the attack spread as an application Bitcoin App, unfortunately it turns out that the application contains a Trojan.

Ransomware will be a mainstay for malware developers as well as a threat that will remain interfere in this year. Ransomware variant is expected to be growing with the additional capability variations.

The only hack of note on the bitcoin protocol is tx malleability.   This allowed a hacker to intercept and change the transaction ID in a transaction.  Automated software, such as an exchange that automatically processes BTC withdrawal requests, could get fooled into broadcasting another transaction on the assumption the confirmed transaction would have the same id as the one that was initially broadcast.

Blockchain.info is not the same as the actual Blockchain....

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/gentleman-hacker-returns-stolen-bitcoins-blockchain-info/

Yes i am sure there was a white hat hacker who acquired 800btc from the blockchain but gave them back pretty much straight away.

I will find the link and leave it here as soon as i find it.

When we talk about the exchanges being hacked i doubt it very much in my mind i just see greedy insiders who steal and blame software etc of course i maybe wrong it's just an opinion based on the world we live in 

Thank you for your guys' responses  

Fills in a lot blanks for me that I've been contemplating for some time; just not something I can communicate with the average person as I'm sure you guys are aware

Much appreciated, and glad to know that Bitcoin is alive and strong.

I'm not too concerned about today's price either as I'm in Bitcoin for the long haul.

I'm for the concept of Bitcoin when used in comparison to how internet started in early stages - I like that analogy.

No and never to question number 1. All those lost coins are from exchangers. As for number 2, none of the alts has ever come close to even replace bitcoin. And I can never imagine if there will ever be one someday.

No.

There is no 51% "hack". The "51% attack" as it's called, is when a single entity obtain the majority (i.e. at least 51%) of the total hashing power world wide. There's a lot of misconception as to what someone with 51% could actually do.

Contrary to popular belief, they can NOT randomly create new bitcoins, they still have to abide the mining rules. They can NOT send fake transactions, or spend bitcoins they don't own. They can only for as long as they manage to keep the 51% majority, which is VERY expensive, mine 100% of the coins (since their chain will be growing faster) and optionally, prevent other people's transactions from being confirmed by deliberately excluding them from their mined blocks. So it's not like Bitcoin suddenly collapses or becomes unusable or unstable or untrustworthy or whatever. And again, their advantage only lasts for as long as they are able to maintain their 51%.

It's extremely, astronomically, tremendously, massively, immensely unlikely. We can't be sure that at some point in the future, some smartass will find a weak spot in the underlying cryptography, e.g. by breaking ECDSA or SHA256. However, rest assured, long before that happens, Bitcoin's security will be the least of our problems (all other financial systems and money protocols use MUCH weaker security).

No. All of these altcoins combined are not as large BY FAR as Bitcoin, in terms of acceptance, market cap, usability, level of software maturity, ecosystem, supported platforms, trading volume, business, start-up investments, amount of wallets and client software, etc.

No. They offer nothing new, most of them are just a 'get rich quick' attempt from people who think they missed the Bitcoin boat and hope to create their own hype. Some small technical details aside, there's no significant novelty or advantage to any of these altcoins.

No. Bitcoin isn't even finished yet, even though it works great in every day practice, technically it's still in development. Any new features or suggestions or improvements that would be introduced by some altcoin, could -if it's necessary or worth it- be integrated into Bitcoin as well.

1 "Has the Bitcoin code itself ever been hacked (or the Blockchain in this case I believe)?"

No.


2 "Do any of these other altcoins stand a chance against Bitcoin? Are they in a position to replace Bitcoin? Does Bitcoin even need a replacement?"

there is no true competitor. bitcoin can adopt mostly everything. Litecoin is the second largest coin and like a backup-chain. people say Bitcoin is Gold, Litecoin is Silver.


3. What is the value of all the hashing power that has gone into Bitcoin?

https://blockchain.info/de/charts

(hundreds of millions, maybe even a billion)