Bitcoin The Story of How Bitcoin was Compromised

The Story of How Bitcoin was Compromised

GhjjCryptocurrency is a groundbreaking invention. It is truly wondrous and revolutionary. It allows people to take back economic freedom from centralized cartels and undermine oppressive third parties. But even though the technology has the capacity to return power to the people, it is not immune to attacks. Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, was compromised in an attack.

It is true the technology that allows bitcoin to function—the blockchain—is antifragile and resilient, but it still has an Achilles tendon. There is at least one attack vector that can harm bitcoin. Matter of fact, when someone creates an allegedly unassailable technology, it practically invites people to launch attacks against it.

However, the weakness attackers exploited was not based in code or mathematics. Instead, the attackers targeted a more vulnerable aspect of the technology: the community.

The attackers infiltrated the community and compromised bitcoin to alter the cryptocurrency’s original purpose. They changed bitcoin from a threatening, extremely efficient, peer-to-peer cash system, into a less frightening, slower and more cumbersome cryptocurrency. It is now called “Bitcoin Core” or “Segwit Coin,” rather than Satoshi Nakamoto’s amazing invention, “Bitcoin.”

The attack happened almost imperceptibly, somewhat slowly, dragged out over the course of time. The attack was so successful that many people do not feel bitcoin was attacked at all. This is because the psychology of the community has warped in the process.