Pages:
Author

Topic: IF the NSA wanted to take control over Bitcoin, how would they do it? (Read 5987 times)

member
Activity: 238
Merit: 10
NSA or any other agency won't gain anything by destroying Bitcoin because it's not a threat to the national security of any country right now and I don't think it will be any time soon. Plus Bitcoin is open-source right? So any tampering with the source code or placing backdoors would be easily noticed wouldn't it?

Abslutley! it would be an exercise in futility for any government to try and manipulate bitcoin.  The genie is out of the bottle nad now we are in control.
Worst case even if BITCOIN is hacked into by the NSA will they spend their time and effort into breaking into every single cryptocurrency out there? Something else will replace bitcoin
member
Activity: 238
Merit: 10
Page 8 and no plausible method. 
Unless they some how find a hack to break into the blockchain and duplicate bitcoin or somehow excecute a 51% attack there’s no way they’re pulling off anything lol
hero member
Activity: 686
Merit: 504

Ah, well then I guess someone would suggest those things. But I see no path to a takeover yet. Although I would love to see banks lose a billion dollars trying.

+1 because that could be exactly what's happening in the BTC futures markets right now - if they're able to short BTC down below $10k, then I think we'll see abandonment of the BTC Kore chain. In which case Bitcoin Cash assumes the lead position. And Wall St. is left bagholding!
I do not understand what you mean by "short BTC down below $10k".  It sounds as if you are saying that the existence of the BTC futures market allows "them" to manipulate the BTC price and force it lower?

Exactly how would that work?

Nothing that complicated really. The mainstream sources I read said that the futures market would correct an imbalance in the markets because buying BTC was easier than selling. Currently they say that the futures markets have a short bias. That would mean (in theory) that the BTC/fiat price would be going down, which it has. If the futures markets allow naked shorting, then the price will really drop. This is just from a conventional financial markets perspective. If you throw in all of the "funbux" Tether tokens and other blatant market rigging, then you've really got a recipe for price drops.

Alternately, Bitfinex could just keep pumping up the price with Tethers etc. Pretty soon I think we'll see a clash between the market participants as BTC dominance and use cases continue to plummet.
full member
Activity: 238
Merit: 102
1st of May
They will need more hash power than the whole world mining today to do a 51% attack, which is probably nit gonna happen. There is no other way to block bitcoins.

I also think is not possible to control bitcoin. How they can have more than 51% of hash power of mining?
However, like in the thread above, why they to kill people because they just want control bitcoin? Is NSA bad company? Confusing.
hero member
Activity: 966
Merit: 515
One of the world's leading Bitcoin-powered casinos
Some ideas on how it could work:

- Read through the connection data (phone,email etc) from key figures of the Bitcoin community to gain insider knowledge
- Infiltrate core development and replace Bitcoin key figures with NSA staff
- Discredit respected members of the community
- Kill people, if they don't corporate.


Are core devs discussing this possiblility of a large scale infiltration and how to avoid?
This is really a big question for the big authorities , And also we knows that already many countries like Japan has big success in technology and they are able to make more control ( stop or make it garbage) but still they just regulated it by imposing tax on the buy sell of Bitcoin , so we can make ourself sure that it is 99% impossible for anyone to stop it by technology , even if any government may ban through ip but can't ban through vpn services use .
And also here we should see towards the humanity that money doesn't have more importance than what people's life have , so they can't kill people to use Bitcoin .
So here we can say there is currently no chance for them to control over btc .
legendary
Activity: 2646
Merit: 1137
All paid signature campaigns should be banned.
Some ideas on how it could work:

- Read through the connection data (phone,email etc) from key figures of the Bitcoin community to gain insider knowledge
- Infiltrate core development and replace Bitcoin key figures with NSA staff
- Discredit respected members of the community
- Kill people, if they don't corporate.


Are core devs discussing this possiblility of a large scale infiltration and how to avoid?

As crazy as it may sound, the NSA can send a giant computer virus that will target the blockchain. Bitcoins need the blockchain, so when the blockchain is in jeopardy, then the NSA got us on our balls. But this will definitely take a couple of years to do so as of now, we can take advantage of bitcoins.
In other words you have no idea of what Bitcoin is, what a blockchain is, where the blockchain resides, how Bitcoin works, or pretty much anything you just blabbered on about, right?
full member
Activity: 462
Merit: 102
Some ideas on how it could work:

- Read through the connection data (phone,email etc) from key figures of the Bitcoin community to gain insider knowledge
- Infiltrate core development and replace Bitcoin key figures with NSA staff
- Discredit respected members of the community
- Kill people, if they don't corporate.


Are core devs discussing this possiblility of a large scale infiltration and how to avoid?

As crazy as it may sound, the NSA can send a giant computer virus that will target the blockchain. Bitcoins need the blockchain, so when the blockchain is in jeopardy, then the NSA got us on our balls. But this will definitely take a couple of years to do so as of now, we can take advantage of bitcoins.
legendary
Activity: 2646
Merit: 1137
All paid signature campaigns should be banned.

Ah, well then I guess someone would suggest those things. But I see no path to a takeover yet. Although I would love to see banks lose a billion dollars trying.

+1 because that could be exactly what's happening in the BTC futures markets right now - if they're able to short BTC down below $10k, then I think we'll see abandonment of the BTC Kore chain. In which case Bitcoin Cash assumes the lead position. And Wall St. is left bagholding!
I do not understand what you mean by "short BTC down below $10k".  It sounds as if you are saying that the existence of the BTC futures market allows "them" to manipulate the BTC price and force it lower?

Exactly how would that work?
member
Activity: 252
Merit: 10
Telegram: https://t.me/ViolaAI
Some ideas on how it could work:

- Read through the connection data (phone,email etc) from key figures of the Bitcoin community to gain insider knowledge
- Infiltrate core development and replace Bitcoin key figures with NSA staff
- Discredit respected members of the community
- Kill people, if they don't corporate.


Are core devs discussing this possiblility of a large scale infiltration and how to avoid?
This is a very necessary precaution of which i support. There is a possibility that this is already on going. Even though it is going to be a difficult task to take down cryptocurrency entirely, precautions are necessary.
hero member
Activity: 686
Merit: 504

Ah, well then I guess someone would suggest those things. But I see no path to a takeover yet. Although I would love to see banks lose a billion dollars trying.

+1 because that could be exactly what's happening in the BTC futures markets right now - if they're able to short BTC down below $10k, then I think we'll see abandonment of the BTC Kore chain. In which case Bitcoin Cash assumes the lead position. And Wall St. is left bagholding!
AGD
legendary
Activity: 2070
Merit: 1164
Keeper of the Private Key
+1 because it is more and more becoming the ugly truth
legendary
Activity: 3066
Merit: 1147
The revolution will be monetized!
Easy:

1) Start a plan to centralize nodes
2) Sell to people that it's better to sacrifice node decentralization in order to buy coffees on chain
3) Give 100% power to miners via BUcoin type clients that give them all the power over blocksize and get rid of any possibilities of user rebelion against miners via UASF
4) Bitcoin's most important property (bitcoin as decentralized gold) is now over
5) Governments now control transactions due having control over easily bribeable datacenters that run both nodes and miners.
That's a lot of if

1) centralized node? On a decentralized network? Centralizing nodes would require a hard fork that must be agreed to by an overwhelming majority of nodes worldwide. Why would the entire world do that?

2) That may happen organically? Some think this now and have created thousands of alts to address it. The NSA would just be alt #7453. Good luck competing though. 

3) No one on Earth has the authority/ability to do that in the protocol. It would require a hard fork to a fundamentally different system that we would all have to adopt. Have you ever met a bitcoin user that would agree to that, much less a super-majority?

4) I don't know what that means? It's over because someone said it? well in that case, war poverty and death are now over! I command it!

5) wow, this is going to be expensive. The US government is going to spend billions bribing miners all over thee planet to... wait why are they doing this? Where is the money going to come from? It is illegal for the us to pay bribes, so this will require an entire secret bureaucracy willing to go to jail for no apparent gain. They will need to operate in almost every country on Earth and be 100% successful. How long do we do this, forever? What happens when I refuse to be bribed and set up a mine? 

It is just not feasible, practical, likely to succeed, cost effective, or lawful. 

Hi RodeoX. The question is not, if it is possible to take control over Bitcoin, but what they would try to do to achieve this goal.
Judging from quotes I read from the IMF, they are pretty aware, that "Cryptocurrencies" (Ms Lagarte avoided spelling the evil name "Bitcoin") can lead to a loss of control over the international cash flow. From there it is just a small step to put up a meeting with some important guys with the topic "How can we stop this Bitcoin thing if it gets too big?"

What would be suggested on this table?


Ah, well then I guess someone would suggest those things. But I see no path to a takeover yet. Although I would love to see banks lose a billion dollars trying.
AGD
legendary
Activity: 2070
Merit: 1164
Keeper of the Private Key
Easy:

1) Start a plan to centralize nodes
2) Sell to people that it's better to sacrifice node decentralization in order to buy coffees on chain
3) Give 100% power to miners via BUcoin type clients that give them all the power over blocksize and get rid of any possibilities of user rebelion against miners via UASF
4) Bitcoin's most important property (bitcoin as decentralized gold) is now over
5) Governments now control transactions due having control over easily bribeable datacenters that run both nodes and miners.
That's a lot of if

1) centralized node? On a decentralized network? Centralizing nodes would require a hard fork that must be agreed to by an overwhelming majority of nodes worldwide. Why would the entire world do that?

2) That may happen organically? Some think this now and have created thousands of alts to address it. The NSA would just be alt #7453. Good luck competing though. 

3) No one on Earth has the authority/ability to do that in the protocol. It would require a hard fork to a fundamentally different system that we would all have to adopt. Have you ever met a bitcoin user that would agree to that, much less a super-majority?

4) I don't know what that means? It's over because someone said it? well in that case, war poverty and death are now over! I command it!

5) wow, this is going to be expensive. The US government is going to spend billions bribing miners all over thee planet to... wait why are they doing this? Where is the money going to come from? It is illegal for the us to pay bribes, so this will require an entire secret bureaucracy willing to go to jail for no apparent gain. They will need to operate in almost every country on Earth and be 100% successful. How long do we do this, forever? What happens when I refuse to be bribed and set up a mine? 

It is just not feasible, practical, likely to succeed, cost effective, or lawful. 

Hi RodeoX. The question is not, if it is possible to take control over Bitcoin, but what they would try to do to achieve this goal.
Judging from quotes I read from the IMF, they are pretty aware, that "Cryptocurrencies" (Ms Lagarte avoided spelling the evil name "Bitcoin") can lead to a loss of control over the international cash flow. From there it is just a small step to put up a meeting with some important guys with the topic "How can we stop this Bitcoin thing if it gets too big?"

What would be suggested on this table?



legendary
Activity: 3066
Merit: 1147
The revolution will be monetized!
Easy:

1) Start a plan to centralize nodes
2) Sell to people that it's better to sacrifice node decentralization in order to buy coffees on chain
3) Give 100% power to miners via BUcoin type clients that give them all the power over blocksize and get rid of any possibilities of user rebelion against miners via UASF
4) Bitcoin's most important property (bitcoin as decentralized gold) is now over
5) Governments now control transactions due having control over easily bribeable datacenters that run both nodes and miners.
That's a lot of if

1) centralized node? On a decentralized network? Centralizing nodes would require a hard fork that must be agreed to by an overwhelming majority of nodes worldwide. Why would the entire world do that?

2) That may happen organically? Some think this now and have created thousands of alts to address it. The NSA would just be alt #7453. Good luck competing though. 

3) No one on Earth has the authority/ability to do that in the protocol. It would require a hard fork to a fundamentally different system that we would all have to adopt. Have you ever met a bitcoin user that would agree to that, much less a super-majority?

4) I don't know what that means? It's over because someone said it? well in that case, war poverty and death are now over! I command it!

5) wow, this is going to be expensive. The US government is going to spend billions bribing miners all over thee planet to... wait why are they doing this? Where is the money going to come from? It is illegal for the us to pay bribes, so this will require an entire secret bureaucracy willing to go to jail for no apparent gain. They will need to operate in almost every country on Earth and be 100% successful. How long do we do this, forever? What happens when I refuse to be bribed and set up a mine? 

It is just not feasible, practical, likely to succeed, cost effective, or lawful. 
sr. member
Activity: 1400
Merit: 269
If this is true then the whole conspiracy theories about the core group being owned by bankers is just an a delusion we are so afraid to implement segwit because we believe in the lie that blockstream is centralized.
NSA might need more hash power to implement 51% attack in the past BU had that power but they didn't do it i wonder why.
newbie
Activity: 11
Merit: 0
Any NSA takeover of bitcoin begins and ends with the plot of Superman III.  Q.E.D
member
Activity: 104
Merit: 100
GetClams.com
It seems to be difficult for them to attack and control Bitcoin from the technical vector.Many nerds are in the crypto space who are also very cautious and paranoid.
The only real serious attack vector I see left is social engineering and infiltration.And I'm sure we already see this happening.Maybe not coming from the NSA but the once in power of the financial industry. Just have a look how many trolls and anti bitcoin shills are flooding in here, coordinated at certain events or times.FUD, divide and conquer and so on. This is no coincidence!
Bitcoin is a becoming a serious threat to so many industries that they will try everything they can do to stop it.
Killing is no option imo.Even if they try to make it look like an accident.This will make the ones who died become martyr.
The reaction to this is would be that coders continue working from underground and more and more supporting them.
An obvious open attack will not work.Therefore they will try it over the sneaky bastardized way (this for instance includes planting crimes on devs, threat, bribe, FUD, divide and conquer).

If you dont killing is an option, ask Hitler Clinton. Shes got 100's of dead bodies connected to her. That said, they still could not take bitcoin down.
Ucy
sr. member
Activity: 2674
Merit: 403
Compare rates on different exchanges & swap.
It seems to be difficult for them to attack and control Bitcoin from the technical vector.Many nerds are in the crypto space who are also very cautious and paranoid.
The only real serious attack vector I see left is social engineering and infiltration.And I'm sure we already see this happening.Maybe not coming from the NSA but the once in power of the financial industry. Just have a look how many trolls and anti bitcoin shills are flooding in here, coordinated at certain events or times.FUD, divide and conquer and so on. This is no coincidence!
Bitcoin is a becoming a serious threat to so many industries that they will try everything they can do to stop it.
Killing is no option imo.Even if they try to make it look like an accident.This will make the ones who died become martyr.
The reaction to this is would be that coders continue working from underground and more and more supporting them.
An obvious open attack will not work.Therefore they will try it over the sneaky bastardized way (this for instance includes planting crimes on devs, threat, bribe, FUD, divide and conquer).

Love this!  OP definitely underrated human capacity to be resilient. Bitcoin would've being history if it were that easy to destroy. The hate toward Crypto by Politicians, Fascists & security agency is hugh but I guarantee  they wouldn't be able to match the intellectual capability of personalities that really like the crypto concept. Even if they successful hire nerds it will hard to convinced those nerds to destroy Bitcoin unless they're completely brainwashed or lied to
member
Activity: 104
Merit: 100
GetClams.com
If it got out that the CIA is trying to undermine bitcoin, i think it would drive the price up. From free advertising to making more people curious it would definitely go up.
hero member
Activity: 802
Merit: 1003
GCVMMWH
IF the NSA wanted to take control over Bitcoin, how would they do it?

I'm guessing they would publicly release their collision attack for SHA-2 Wink
Pages:
Jump to: