What Happens When Anonymous Gets a Bank?

[Peter Lemkin]

Having become interested in the idea, I've studied up quite a bit on it and had even installed some software...currently removed from my computer..... I think the idea is good in concept, but not yet in practice...the reasons are complex and can detail - or point toward advanced [some heavy reading!] details. One has to be pretty computer and numerically saavy to understand the principles. I signed up on the main web Forum for bitcoin and while I don't yet have privileges to post in the main area, see there is a growing 'problems' section. Some outsiders who really know their math and computer technology also have entered the discussion and published some interesting papers. I do not suspect those who started the Project had anything dark in mind - likely quite the opposite; however it now seems that anyone with access to a very large computer [like a supercomputer or company computer network], could quite easily and quickly steal most or all of the current 'wealth' of bitcoins, now valued at US$20/each. I'll watch and wait. Some good ideas have been proposed to prevent such problems from happening - but have NOT yet been instituted. As I'm sure bitcoins are a threat to the very kinds who could buy or have a supercomputer to do exactly that, at the 'right' time, it seems a risk greater than most now realize. There are already private 'miners' with many [one admitted 20 dedicated and VERY powerful] home computers; dedicated just to doing the computer-intensive mining [that is one way to create bitcoins and thus wealth from pure electricity and computer energy expended]. Another person who worked on a corporate computer, secretly set it up to work on HIS own bitcoin mining. Others have invented netbots to enter the bitcoin network or turned 'professional miners', etc.

When the 'Big BAD Boys' with super-computers enter.....be careful!

I believe the original [naive] idea assumed each person involved would only be using their single computer. While there are other problems involved, the simplest way to beat the pack or steal from the pack is with enormous computer power! There are other ways to defraud people that have already happened and others that have been mentioned that have not - yet! I hope they fix the system and get it up, running, secure, and fair! :mexican: As several persons have already lost large sums to fraudsters and the price recently fell, after those events from $30 to $20, one can see that the model has not yet quite been perfected.....and a bit more caution as to 'human nature' - and deep political nature needs to be taken into account! It is a great idea, but a few months before 'its time' IMHO.