If you have followed the recent Bitcoin Cash drama you may be aware that Craig Wright has potentially enough power with his mining pools to control both sides of the upcoming fork.

I thought the interview with Tone Vays was remarkable where he explains how he and his allies control most of the mining power. Something to the tune of 70-80% of all the hashing power to be exact.

This likely will make most miners simply switch away from the ABC chain and just mine btc, tipping the scale even further.

This is an actual 51% attack

Now to me this is really interesting because this is an effective 51% attack.

The normal governance structure on bitcoin is that the miners decide rules which the market then rewards or not. If the miners do a good job the market value should reward them. Else they die.

Here however what the market wants is trumped by the hashing power of one party. Now this may not be correct a statement because, well we are talking about a coalition. Still this coalition effectively can kill the other side making the market itself irrelevant if they actually do as they say (being able to mine with a loss for 2 years). Is this coalition really an honest party?

Here the market dies. WTF!

This actual attack, if it happens, would be the first time a real 51% attack happens over a long time actually killing an entire chain, that is pretty valuable. Yes we have seen this on small chains for quick gains, but here we have someone actually taking over and controlling an ecosystem.

I am fascinated by this experience and every time these forks and economic wars happen we learn something new. This is truly new historical territory.

We see that the SV side of the chain has the majority hashpower or about 85%.

What is the economic impact of a party ruling in bitcoin

Now really I am excited to see what will happen when one party actually controls a chain. My understanding so far was always that decentralization was required for its security. We will now have a chain that is controlled by one party effectively.

The interesting part is that this party will suffer if people don't suypport it, so while they are in control they must convince users they are good for them. I don't think this can work.

Truly fascinating. I look forward to see what this 51% attack is going to have as an outcome.