As you may know, the hashing operation behind bitcoin is essentially the same that’s used to crack passwords. If you have a mining farm that can make a lot of bitcoins, you also have the hardware to open up, for example, encrypted databases.

So, bitcoin has no use, but states are absolutely interested in a computational arms race. That’s why I’m so intrigued by China’s turn on bitcoin. I saw some destruction of shitty GPU rigs, but I wouldn’t be surprised if China is just steering themselves out of bitcoin and organizing their mining capabilities. I’m thinking of that hydro electric dam, probably some secret ASICs too.

A player as big as that could take advantage of a time like when the difficulty doubles again and miners drop out, or some other opportunity in order to perform a double spend attack or just splinter the blockchain into a confusing mess.

Name a better targeted, more humane weapon. “Thousands of 36 year old white men are forced to stand in line to receive their temporary ape assistance. This aggression will not stand.”