If bitcoin, the network, is open accessed - by that i mean that anyone can jump into the mining race (for the probabilistic chance to create the next block. PROBABILISTIC(!)) -, and bitcoin the currency unit is valued by - alas semi - the free market, and any central bank **insert evil bank cartel here*** can buy/sell it with free air printed fiat -, than all those hypothetical "sinister powers would be" should have been able to strangle it in the crib already, if they have wanted to/capable to do it. AKA, bitcoin would be dead.
Since bitcoin is still alive, and the aggregated network security is at an all time high, price is stable and obviously on a long term uptrend, none of the above has happened/can be done despite the intent -> hypothetical attacks have failed/can't be done as of yet.
I am a bit tired of all these "but what if...[insert totally unrealistic scenario] things happens, and kills bitcoin..."
The mere fact, that they did not happened in the last 7 years - despite the enormous incentive of the legacy system to act upon it - shows us that it can not be done, or they could not have found a way to do it so far (but yeah, they have tried, like - terrorist, drug dealers, ponzi, etc bullshit).
Most people would say that because their thought isn't Machiavellian enough. A dumb hacker might think along the lines of "
oh I just found an exploit, let's go out and use it". Not the Elite.
The Elite has an arsenal of attack vectors for any given situation. They will strategically deploy these, as needs arise, and only as a last resort. This is necessary to protect their arsenal. They don't use it mindlessly.
An attack will be wasted if it's launched early, because, in our case, such an attack will have a small effect, BTC can be patched and continue. The attacks become more potent the more "established" BTC becomes. Thus the cost/reward ratio for early attacks doesn't compute in its favor. Instead, attacks would be better deployed later to cause maximum damage. It's not the same attacking bitcoin while it has a 1-2-5-10bn marketcap, and when it's, say, 100bn marketcap. The "crash'n'burn factor" multiplies. The same attack can be more catastrophic later.
That's why the rationale "
if it hasn't been attacked so far, it won't be later" isn't valid. Because early attacks don't make sense (they waste an attack vector for dubious results).
For the Elite, it's better if the cryptoanarchists, say, build an ecosystem for 10 years, and THEN go in and kill it. Then, until they regrow something different, from the lessons learned from the first iteration, they'll let them for a few years to slowly grow AND THEN kill the next project. If the Elite acted in "panic mode" and had kill-cycles of one month, then in 3 years the cryptoanarchists would be in the 37th iteration, having patched 36 attack vectors. The Elite's job would be far more difficult to keep finding attack vectors to a constantly patched system that circumvents them.
If I were the Elite, even if I had 10 bitcoin kill-switches, I would have no incentive to activate anyone right now. I'd have to let it grow more and then trigger a switch. Or play around with something like a half-switch, for entertainment value (panic). Or even 0.25x switches, like bloating, where you slowly make it unusable and centralized.... or instigating community division where you let bitcoiners rip one another apart while you laugh for triggering the fire.
Under no circumstance would I want the kill cycle to be fast because it depletes my arsenal of attack vectors faster than I can replenish it, creating a very hardened rival that will inevitably become impossible to kill. As the Elite, I do not want to bring the inevitable closer to the present. I want it to be towards the future.
As a bitcoiner I'd like bitcoin to have this hardness right now, not after I go through multiple kill cycles. In order to do that, the best way to go about it is pre-empt possible attacks by making the worst assumptions possible about the hostile environment that we are operating, thus closing possible attack vectors that could manifest.
If assumptions of a hostile environment aren't in place, then I have no reason to even be invested in Bitcoin. It would be a jokecoin surrounded by wishful thinking instead of actual security.
