No. The permissionless, decentralised nature of the Bitcoin network, means that it can’t be stopped.
Not by you, not by me and certainly not by either of our governments.
The Bitcoin network is a globally decentralised network of interconnected computers and its current standing means that it’s by far the most powerful network on the planet.
Why do you think the question of Bitcoin’s energy consumption continues to come up?
It’s huge.
But with size comes security, so let’s go into a little more detail around why Bitcoin can’t be stopped by attackers and certainly not by governments.
Bitcoin can’t be stopped by attackers
Let’s first start by talking about how an attacker could try to stop the Bitcoin network.
The most common way for an attacker to take control of a weak blockchain network is to 51% attack it.
We see them occur on smaller, shittier blockchains such as Ethereum Classic (can you see which Ethereum is better now?), all the time.
But never on the Bitcoin network.
The sheer size and decentralised nature of its network, means that a 51% attack on Bitcoin is all but impossible.
Bitcoin can’t be 51% attacked because an attacker would require the computing power, known as hashing power, to replace that of literally millions of miners scattered throughout the world.
To build the infrastructure required to take over the network, it would cost literally billions of dollars and only then, the results would still only be a maybe.
The tech, let alone the economics of attacking the network by force, just don’t add up, hence the Bitcoin network has never been successfully 51% attacked even once in its history.
Bitcoin can’t be stopped by governments
While the Bitcoin network can’t be stopped by attacking it, what about governments flexing their power?
Nope, Bitcoin can’t be stopped by governments either.
You see, the Bitcoin network is decentralised in nature, making it immune from shutdown by any single government.
All governments can do at this point is to try and shut down the on/off ramps for fiat to BTC transactions, within their own jurisdiction.
But with so many global currencies, crypto altcoins and widespread access to free proxy servers, trying to stop the Bitcoin on/off ramps is as futile as stopping the network itself.
Not to mention the risks of one government being left behind from a technological point of view when compared to their rival.
Do you really think that China wouldn’t want to gain the upper hand in tech if the US government tried to ban Bitcoin?
Or the other way around?
For a simple comparison here, look at the difference between North and South American economies and which encouraged innovation and tech during the industrial revolution.
Bitcoin is the single greatest technological advancement since the industrial revolution and when push comes to shove, no first world government is going to want to miss out.
For more reading on the technology, head on over to our Bitcoin guide.
Best of probabilities to you.
Direct from the desk of Dane Williams.
This blog is exclusive to leofinance.io
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This Bitcoin blog is exclusive to leofinance.io.