What would a state-sponsored attack look like (technological, financial, political, legal, social, etc.)? What is the geopolitical impact of Bitcoin and other decentralised open blockchains?

The first set of questions are from the patron-only live Q&A which took place on December 16th 2017. The second set of questions are from the patron-only live Q&A which took place on February 24th 2018. The third question is from part of a talk which took place at Pebble Beach for the Capgemini CXO Forum on November 1-3rd 2017 in Monterey, California.

If you want early-access to talks and a chance to participate in the monthly live Q&As with Andreas, become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/aantonop

RELATED:
Money as a System-of-Control – https://youtu.be/FyK4P7ZdOK8
Worse than Useless: Financial Surveillance – https://youtu.be/n4F-h4xuXMk
Decentralized Truth – https://youtu.be/XCVaabu3J04
Delivering Liberty, At Scale – https://youtu.be/AecPrwqjbGw
Bitcoin: Where the Laws of Mathematics Prevail – https://youtu.be/HaJ1hvon0E0
Fake News, Fake Money – https://youtu.be/i_wOEL6dprg
The Currency Wars and Bitcoin’s Neutrality – https://youtu.be/Bu5Mtvy97-4
The Courage to Innovate Without Permission – https://youtu.be/ywq6NBETUJ8
Beyond Price: Bitcoin’s Impact on the Future – https://youtu.be/rvwVbRQ5Ysc
Decentralised exchanges and counterparty risk – https://youtu.be/hi_jaw0dT9M
The war on cash and crypto – https://youtu.be/BAlRKfvBnvw
Regulation and the bank boycott – https://youtu.be/8ypH69Cb1l0
What is the biggest threat? – https://youtu.be/1-XUbH1F0Os
Criminalisation of ownership? – https://youtu.be/5xihdO7bVZE
Separation of money and state – https://youtu.be/jGmtRA9S7_Y
Net Neutrality and open blockchains – https://youtu.be/yahjdULhtlc
Why running a node is important – https://youtu.be/oX0Yrv-6jVs
Will governments ban cryptocurrencies? – https://youtu.be/LIQkuF_I5Xo
Could a state-sponsored 51% attack work? – https://youtu.be/KUd8ZGgm6Qo
Decentralised immunity from state-sponsored attacks – https://youtu.be/ZBuHOGufW14
Could governments take over exchanges? – https://youtu.be/9PrJQeKl9w4
The Switzerland of currencies – https://youtu.be/pV83Qmy578c
Global financial crisis (GFC) – https://youtu.be/JU3gNC_ZPKM
A voluntary alternative to mandatory currencies – https://youtu.be/5ogv3Eya9nQ

Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a technologist and serial entrepreneur who has become one of the most well-known and respected figures in bitcoin.

Follow on Twitter: @aantonop https://twitter.com/aantonop
Website: https://antonopoulos.com/

He is the author of two books: “Mastering Bitcoin,” published by O’Reilly Media and considered the best technical guide to bitcoin; “The Internet of Money,” a book about why bitcoin matters.

THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v1: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Internet-Money-collection-Andreas-Antonopoulos/dp/1537000454/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

[NEW] THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v2: https://www.amazon.com/Internet-Money-Andreas-M-Antonopoulos/dp/194791006X/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

MASTERING BITCOIN: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-Bitcoin-Unlocking-Digital-Cryptocurrencies/dp/1449374042

[NEW] MASTERING BITCOIN, 2nd Edition: https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bitcoin-Programming-Open-Blockchain/dp/1491954388

Subscribe to the channel to learn more about Bitcoin & open blockchains!

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38 COMMENTS

  3. If you use TOR to hide sites you may wish to be anonymous on, but the also on another tab use it to login to say Facebook, is everything you do now exposed to that identity? Or is each tab its own?

  6. Top and thank you a lot but in the explanation of the Gold & Silver Market you forgot to mention that Goldman & Sachs are selling empty these markets short for decades and the advantage they have is control themselves their Margin Account 😉 sorry for limited english.

  9. Bitcoin will most likely grow in the 3rd world first. It will slowly take over small, poor countries that have untrustworthy governments or currencies. I like to make the analogy to the newspaper industry: Bitcoin will exist alongside the major currencies like the US Dollar, Euro, Pound, and Yen in the same way that USA Today exists alongside the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, etc. USA Today serves many small towns and cities universally the same way Bitcoin will serve a mix of countries and purposes.

  11. Hi Andreas. Thanks for all your contributions to the Bitcoin community. My question is how can I achieve the maximum possible anonymity using my mobile wallet and hardware wallet. In the past, I purchase a small amount of crypto from coinbace and they have all my personal information. I understand that sending crypto from my coinbace account to my other wallets (as I did) make those addresses completely traceable to me. If I create new addresses from my mobile and hardware wallets and never associate them (via transactions) with my old wallets be enough to achieve anonymity on those addresses? In what extent are tor and VPN necessary?

  14. It is perceivable that the state function of "printing money" will become obsolete; but what specific implications do you foresee? More defaults? More disintegrated states? What happens if this happens in a nuclear-capable autocracy?

  15. Andreas, we understand your desire to not want to support one crypto over another but how can you even mention bitcoin cash when all hate that community expresses? You said it yourself that bitcoin has a scalability problem which block increase can’t fix if it’s to remain decentralized. Why tell people to use it? We are so confused on your statements. You are an idealist I assume but these two cryptos cannot co-exist. It sets a bad example for future devs that they can just steal the bitcoin name and its worth $. It has to be trademarked. Please explain your thought process on telling people they can use bitcoin cash for onchain transactions? Do you know something we don’t?

  17. I believe that all (most) technologies will be forced to adopt blockchian or be passed by their competitors who do.
    My question is:
    When big companies like Google, Facebook, Banks and the government decide to develop their own blockchain and not make partners with existing platforms, or projects, what will this do to the existing crypto currency market? I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this.

  20. I was shocked to hear him brush off a Chinese state sponsored attack as not in their best interests… All what libertarians love about Bitcoin is contrary to China's interests. A few billion dollars in lost Bitcoin revenue is meaningless when compared to the threat it poses to the system. Why is nobody talking about this? It seems so plainly ironic that the power to mess with a decentralized network rests in the hands of President for life Xi Jinping. Does that give pause to anyone else??

  21. Hi. I love your work and your positive contribution to this crazy world. I wrote this on the LTC foundation's channel.
    I just wanted to share here — maybe an idea like this could be useful? Just one well-written, short graphic that the BTC/LTC community can each individually share to their social media channels. It feels to me that we've left the bulk of our audience behind — all of them fearful, uneducated etc.
    See what your people think, anyway. 🙂

    Chris C
    1 hour ago
    Hello there, Dan, Sakura, and Tyler S

    I'm a quiet watcher of all of you — great work, keep it up.
    It seems to me that the crypto sphere has tapped out in terms of its advertising and raising awareness for the folk who want to make a quick buck or to 10x their stockpile.
    Twitter, Google, Youtube — all are banning ads, as we know. Searches for bitcoin and crypto in general are stagnant at best.

    There are guys like Andreas Antonopoulos, and you guys, who work tirelessly trying to raise awareness and to bring money flowing into the market … but what about your collective followers?

    We're not only legion, we're believers in this technology! Right?
    You are building a community — is it time to put the community to work?

    My belief is that the largest untapped audience for crypto are the people who have been fed their knowledge of the space from mainstream (fud inducing) media. John Oliver etc.
    This won't do.
    I imagine that at least 90% of the population believe they have a basic understanding of crypto. And that understanding STILL stands as the public believing we're a bunch of pimps, ho's, Columbian Cartel and tax dodgers. Am I right? Tell me, because I'm just guessing here.

    This huge portion of the population are on the outside of the crypto market because they believe what they think they know about it.

    But, we the ltc (and crypto in general) communities have social media!
    We have twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest etc.
    Could those channels ban each of us for posting a really smart, thought provoking, powerful graphic/info graphic to our respective pages?

    I figure that the 90% who are currently lost to this market would love nothing more than to see that it's 'regular' folk who occupy this space. People who believe in the blockchain and its inherent implications for society, the world, mankind etc.
    They truly have NO idea who we are and what we stand for.
    So is it possible we educate them?
    Is it possible that we could all pull together as a community and get the word out there?
    Something to spark curiosity? Something to get people thinking?
    Something that shows these lost souls that we, the investors in crypto, are just like them. With hopes and dreams of a better future etc?

    I'm not a marketer, copywriter, or graphic designer — so the graphic I'm posting here I just made in 2 minutes.
    But what if there were graphic designers in this community?
    What if there were copywriters who could write, killer, heart-tugging, brain fizzing copy? You know, all those winning keywords etc?
    If we could come up with something that would have people clicking on regular people's posts …. could this be like a metoo# campaign?
    To get people talking and curious and snuffling around to find out more?
    Imagine it …. your neighbour sees your post, and he's like "Honey, Derek down the road invests in crypto. I always thought he was a nice guy."
    People WILL dig deeper. If only to find out what their previously unassuming neighbour is up to.
    This kinda thing should be shared around all cryptocurrencies. Tron heads, Ripple Nipple's alike.

    Is it a good idea? Or no?
    I really, really, really feel that it's the uneducated (largest portion) of the market that needs to 'got at.'
    And I believe that it's 'regular' folk that could stir the pot.

    Here is my (Completely laughable) graphic idea…. but it's really just to get people thinking …. maybe there are people here who'd like to work together and make something of us.

    WE ARE NOT:

    Drug Pushers
    Pimps
    Tax Evaders
    Arms Dealers

    WE ARE:
    Regular folk who believe in a better future for humanity.

    10X, To the moon, Lambo — these have all been done, and we've already magnetized (and in all likelihood, lost) this audience.
    It's the people who either know nothing about crypto, or THINK they know something based on whatever's come out of mainstream media.
    The public doesn't know WHO we are. And that needs to change. And I think a grassroots campaign like this might work.

    Obviously, if Tyler S, Dan and Sakura wanted this linked back to the litecoin foundation — then I'd guess there'd have to be some kind of material in place for BRAND NEW adopters. Maybe short instructional type videos that explain the blockchain, what it could change in the world etc. Maybe a short video on how to set yourself up on an exchange etc.
    This would only apply IF you wanted to add the LTC foundation as the source material.
    Otherwise … we could just word it so it just gets people looking and doing their own research.
    Not going to lie though — I think the brand new adopters are the gargantuan slice of the market, so maybe they really should be brought 'home' to the LTC foundation?

    Anyway, not to add to your workload …. really, I just wanted to know what people think of the idea as a whole. 🙂
    If it seems like a good idea to anyone. Run with it. Let's get people interested/fascinated/curious, in a 'regular' people to 'regular' people kinda way 🙂

  24. What would happen if a government attempted to attack as many mining sites as possible globally – what would be the solution to that problem. Also if they were successful in shutting down the majority, if not all of the large mining sites, will the difficulty to solve the mathematical problems be automatically be reduced to the point where the problems can be quickly solved by personal computers again, like the old days?

  26. You bring very much needed peace of mind Sir! Thank you.
    But still I am alarmed at the possibility of the government entering this space already from the beginning. In that case they do not even need a technological attack, having back doors all over the place. I found 2 examples: TOR and ZCash.
    1. What to think of Yasha Levine's revelations about TOR?! 2/27/18 He published that he found 2500 documents, obtained through FOIA, that show that TOR is not grassroots, quote:
    …"almost 100% funded by three U.S. national security agencies: the Navy, the State Department and the BBG. Tor (is a) military contractor with its own government contractor number — a privatized extension of the very same government that it claimed to be fighting…
    https://surveillancevalley.com/blog/fact-checking-the-tor-projects-government-ties

    Do we know more about this Yasha Levine? Is he for real?
    Maybe I missed it, but I did not see any reaction yet in the crypto community.

    2. ZCash. On their site http://zerocash-project.org/about_us they mention their sponsors – among others – to be:
    – U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) under contract FA8750-11-2-0211
    They even state on the same page: "The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government."

  29. The main threat is if governments ban together and issue fedcoin at the same time. One day everyone has fiat, the next day fedcoin (substitute nationally sponsored coin). Everyone is given one month to turn in fiat for fedcoin. Next step: outlaw all non-state crypto. The spineless masses will simply adopt gov options. "Turn in anyone using non-state crypto for fedcoin rewards."

  31. Andreas, thank you so much for finally addressing the manipulation by means of controlling the narrative. I think everyone has greatly underestimated the ease of doing it and that it has already been our biggest problem to date. Not only have they infiltrated the community and created huge amounts of friction but I also believe they do it with all this trading technical analysis BS. Years ago I was your first caller on the Let's Talk Bitcoin podcast. My question to you was, what about the powers that be and how they will manipulate bitcoin. I don't think you fully understood the depth of my concern and the many avenues of manipulation at that time, however it appears you do now. Studying the history of Money, Bankers, Power and the CIA will help people understand the who, how and why of what they do and the great lengths they go to to do it.

  34. Wouldn't it be easy for a financial titan to simply create many accounts and then sell and buy they're own coins back at a lower price thus forcing prices down. They could then also buy any other coins that are being sold by people that are too fearful or desperate to HODL? This seems like a venerability and a very likely and effective attack vector to me!

  37. I'm going to watch the video now. Why don't we organize a cryptocurrency lobby like the NRA for example or many others. We could organize them in different countries. These lobbies would defend our best interests. Sorry if this is a silly question.

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