Image: Shutterstock/Julia Zakharova
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Experts argue that the future of the virtual currency now relies on GHash, which is run by an anonymous group called CEX.io, acting responsibly. If it did carry out a so-called “51 percent attack,” it could undermine the cryptocurrency, send Bitcoin’s value plummeting, and undermine its own business model. It hasn’t done anything malicious yet, but considering the opacity of its operations, no one knows its motivations. The more paranoid sectors of the community fear “Bitcoin terrorism” and attempts to kill the cryptocurrency.When Bitcoiners flipped out over GHash’s mining dominance in January, as it crept towards the dreaded 50 percent mark, GHash said it had no intention to “execute a 51 percent attack, as it will do serious damage to the Bitcoin community.” It even said it would “take all necessary precautions to prevent reaching 51 percent of all hashing power, in order to maintain stability of the Bitcoin network.” It noted that if it did carry out attacks, it would jeopardise the whole cryptocurrency project and it saw “no benefit from having 51 percent stake in mining.”"If the FBI wants to close down the successor to Silk Road, they don't have to hack or arrest the chief pirate; they can get a court order compelling the dominant mining consortium, which we might now call ‘the Central Bank.'"
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