[Cryptography] ghash.io hits 50% of the Bitcoin compute power

[Phillip Hallam-Baker]

On Sat, Jun 14, 2014 at 8:00 AM, Jerry Leichter <leichter at lrw.com> wrote:

> If the press - and the Winklevoss brothers - are to be believed, Bitcoin
> has become a vehicle of speculation (I won't say investment) on a large
> scale.  A substantial pool of large investors in Bitcoin would, of course,
> be a group with an interest in keeping Bitcoin not just safe, but trusted.
>  Having 50% of Bitcoin compute power in the hands of a single other group,
> whatever its effect on actual safety, certainly has the power to destroy
> trust in Bitcoin - and hence the value of investment.  So it would behoove
> those with large positions to begin mining as a way to break up the
> control, even if on a per-Bitcoin basis that mining loses money.  In a way,
> it's like a national bank trading in its own currency in an attempt to
> break the influence of others on its value.
>

 Oh great so now even the speculators have to mine to maintain the value of
their investments.

Maybe this is a clever way for a bunch of Ukranian/Russian cybergangs to
force someone to buy their bitcoin mining rigs that can never payback their
capital cost by mining.


It really is a self-Ponzi scheme. Once folk are bought in it is impossible
for them to escape unless they can persuade someone else that its a good
investment. So Bitcoin is like those lobster pots that get lost and sit
about in the sea with one creature after another going inside to eat the
bait then dying and becoming bait for the next.
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