<p>Won't happen.</p>

<p>Bitcoin's value (like that of most currencies) is based entirely on the belief that it has value.  If someone were to perform a 51% attack on Bitcoin, it would greatly weaken the belief in Bitcoin, and the value would collapse.  If a pool were to perform a 51% attack, they'd get a little money from the success of the attack, but at the cost of giving up a large amount of money from future success of Bitcoin.</p>

<p>In fact, there have been cases where a pool has come close to having 50% of the mining power, and when that's happened, the pool has voluntarily stopped allowing new miners to join in order to avoid even the appearance of being able to perform a 51% attack.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-30T02:19:21.020Z
2019-08-30T02:19:21.020Z
Mark
<p>It won't happen if the bosses of the pools are all ideal.</p>

<p>In the real word, they may be lunatics or terrorists, they may be cheated or threatened. As long as they have the ability, the world is in danger.</p>

<p>The traditional security is based on economics, or on rational persons. That is not enough. The goal of cryptocurrencies is to upgrade the security to be based on cryptography.</p>

<p>To consider security like "they can but they won't" is no more than the traditional system, cannot reflect the superiority of cryptocurrencies.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-25T16:47:48.997Z
2020-01-25T16:47:48.997Z
saintthor
<p>Looking at this bitcoin hash rate distribution chart (<a href="https://www.blockchain.com/en/pools" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.blockchain.com/en/pools</a>), it only takes 3-4 mining pools to unite and do a 51% attack.</p>

<p>With this possibility, how can people still think that Bitcoin can be the money of the future?</p>

<p>PS: I'm also a bitcoin believer</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-29T20:04:21.123Z
Possible duplicate of [Are big miners a threat for Bitcoin?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/3274/are-big-miners-a-threat-for-bitcoin)
Ugam Kamat
<mining-pools><hashpower><majority-attack><decentralization>
What are the chances bitcoin big mining pools to unite and do 51% attack?
bbnn
# What are the chances bitcoin big mining pools to unite and do 51% attack?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-08-29)

Looking at this bitcoin hash rate distribution chart (<https://www.blockchain.com/en/pools>), it only takes 3-4 mining pools to unite and do a 51% attack.

With this possibility, how can people still think that Bitcoin can be the money of the future?

PS: I'm also a bitcoin believer

**Tags:** mining-pools, hashpower, majority-attack, decentralization

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Possible duplicate of [Are big miners a threat for Bitcoin?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/3274/are-big-miners-a-threat-for-bitcoin)  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-08-30. Score: 0 | Accepted answer

Won't happen.

Bitcoin's value (like that of most currencies) is based entirely on the belief that it has value. If someone were to perform a 51% attack on Bitcoin, it would greatly weaken the belief in Bitcoin, and the value would collapse. If a pool were to perform a 51% attack, they'd get a little money from the success of the attack, but at the cost of giving up a large amount of money from future success of Bitcoin.

In fact, there have been cases where a pool has come close to having 50% of the mining power, and when that's happened, the pool has voluntarily stopped allowing new miners to join in order to avoid even the appearance of being able to perform a 51% attack.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2020-01-25. Score: 1

It won't happen if the bosses of the pools are all ideal.

In the real word, they may be lunatics or terrorists, they may be cheated or threatened. As long as they have the ability, the world is in danger.

The traditional security is based on economics, or on rational persons. That is not enough. The goal of cryptocurrencies is to upgrade the security to be based on cryptography.

To consider security like "they can but they won't" is no more than the traditional system, cannot reflect the superiority of cryptocurrencies.


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