Could China Perform an Attack on Bitcoin?

The fact that China has become such a big “bitcoin nation” over the past several years is worrying to some. They are concerned that the country could potentially take over the space, which would ultimately mean the end of bitcoin and crypto as we know it.

Is China Getting Too Powerful in the BTC Space?

As it stands, China controls much of the global mining power. That means that most mining operations in the world either make their home in China or are powered by Chinese businesses or firms. This is creating something of a centralized environment in which one nation is in control of most of the bitcoin hash power, and this goes against everything the cryptocurrency has stood for.

Initially, bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies were designed to give financial independence back to their users. They are the opposite of traditional financial products and services in which most of the time, banks have the ultimate say-so in who gets to utilize them. Banks decide if your credit history is good enough to gain access to what they offer, and this can be dangerous in that many people may not be able to survive the way others do.

Bitcoin is the opposite in that all one really needs is a digital wallet address to start using it and start trading. It’s built to ensure anyone who uses it has equality with other users, but if one country begins taking over, that’s the same as a single central body – the way traditional financial companies are operated – making all the decisions. Bitcoin is not a one-stop government tool, but some are worried that thanks to China, it soon will be.

Foundry chief executive Mike Colyer is trying to tell people they don’t need to worry too much, and that China isn’t the major threat some might make it out to be. In a recent interview, he comments:

Over the past three or four years, the story has been on China dominating [bitcoin mining]. I personally don’t view that as a major threat to bitcoin. The economic investment that [an attack on bitcoin] would require is immense.

China currently contributes 65 percent of the Earth’s global bitcoin mining power, while the U.S. only contributes seven percent according to data from the University of Cambridge. While some are concerned that perhaps China can pull off something similar with a 51 percent attack on bitcoin, Colyer says that this would simply be too complicated and too expensive, and that it would cost more than $700K per hour to engage in something like that.

We Shouldn’t Worry That Much

Others appear to agree. Samson Mow – chief strategy officer at bitcoin development firm Block Stream – explained:

Just because there are mining operations in China, it does not mean that hardware can be seized.

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