[Cryptography] Question about Bitcoin's security model

[Peter Fairbrother]

On 15/07/2026 14:51, jameslancasterliverpool via cryptography wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I have been studying the Bitcoin protocol and would like to ask a question.
> 
> In your opinion, what is currently the biggest long-term security 
> challenge for Bitcoin: quantum computing, mining centralization, or 
> something else?

The fact that it is fundamentally a greatest-fool scam based on lies.


That statement may need a bit of taking-apart - the scam part is the 
promulgation of the belief that a bitcoin (or an unexpended whatever) 
has any actual or intrinsic or real value.

The "greatest-fool" part is that you have to find someone who is a 
bigger fool than you to sell it at a profit. When you get to the 
greatest fool ... everything collapses.



The lies are first that it is a currency, which it obviously isn't - 
apart from one famous incident, can you buy a cup of coffee with it?

Second, that it is anonymous - really?, when every transaction is 
publicly available? An anonymous wallet can be de-anonymised easily enough.

Third, that it is secure - we all know that fatal attacks (eg mining 
centralisation, legal attacks, protocol change attacks etc etc) are 
possible.



While we all admire CGHQ^H^H^H^H Satoshi's coding style, I sometimes 
wonder whether Bitcoin was a spoiler attack against the development of a 
truly anonymous online currency.

Peter Fairbrother