Since it's not physical like gold or silver you don't need mining equipment, you should just be able to create infinite copies. So why does bitcoin need to be "mined" and why would mining it cost so much energy?
Since it's not physical like gold or silver you don't need mining equipment, you should just be able to create infinite copies. So why does bitcoin need to be "mined" and why would mining it cost so much energy?
It's not just the richest person, you have to control the majority of global processor power. The assumption is that, even at the top, where people have warehouse sized rigs, there's supposed to be enough conflicting interests that no one would be able to coordinate a majority. It still could theoretically happen though.
In hindsight, people would be able to see that fraud had happened, but the transaction would have gone through.