from Hacker News

Bitcoin Network Doubles to 2 PH/s in Four Weeks; the First 1 PH/s Took 4.7 Years

by CrunchyJams on 10/14/13, 2:42 PM with 92 comments

  • by geetee on 10/14/13, 3:28 PM

    When this lunacy ends and people are left with racks of useless miners, is there anything they can be repurposed for?

  • by jasonlingx on 10/14/13, 5:04 PM

    I think most people are missing the bigger picture implication here: if 1 or 2 companies can double the bitcoin network in 4 weeks, then the network is not and probably never will be safe from attacks by the likes of the NSA and such.

  • by deletes on 10/14/13, 3:17 PM

  • by taariqlewis on 10/14/13, 6:22 PM

    My question would be: How will the blockchain stop attacks when all the bitcoins have been mined, but computing power continues to increase thereafter, even at a slowing rate?

    Couldn't someone develop better ASICs, long after mining has ended, to launch a 51% attack? Granted it would be expensive, wouldn't that expense decrease continuously?

  • by Synaesthesia on 10/14/13, 4:22 PM

    And 3PH is just around the corner! http://bitcoin.sipa.be

  • by TomGullen on 10/14/13, 4:23 PM

    Am I correct in saying this is good news for BTC, as it makes a 50% network attack more and more expensive to execute?

    Going into the future, when difficulty is high enough or all Bitcoins are mined, would some of this computing power shut down?

  • by WayneS on 10/14/13, 3:08 PM

    Ahh that is kinda how "exponential growth" works. But clearly the exponential part is recent because if you project backwards at doubling every 4 weeks you find the hash rate started at one hash every 28 days. ;-)