Summary
- Nick Szabo pointed out that Bitcoin is vulnerable to legal measures by states and corporations.
- Szabo said all level-1 blockchains have a legal attack surface, and that government law enforcement could affect network operations.
- Some Bitcoin supporters countered that Szabo's position overestimates the authority of regulators.
Contrary to the perception that Bitcoin (BTC) is a network with technical resilience, it was pointed out that it has aspects vulnerable to legal actions by states and corporations.
On the 17th (local time), according to Cointelegraph, Nick Szabo, an American computer scientist who devised the concept of smart contracts, said, "Bitcoin, or any blockchain, is not a 'magical tool' that completely neutralizes a state's legal attacks."
Szabo said all layer-1 blockchains have a "legal attack surface," and pointed out that if a government were to pressure miners, node operators, and wallet service providers simultaneously through law enforcement, network operations could be affected. He emphasized, "Bitcoin is a trust-minimizing system, not a completely trustless (trustless) system."
Some Bitcoin supporters pushed back on Szabo's remarks. Chris Sidor, CEO of Bitcoin seed custody firm Sidor, argued, "Szabo is overestimating the power of regulators," and claimed, "If regulation could collapse networks where possible, technologies like PGP and Tor would already have disappeared."
Son Min
sonmin@bloomingbit.ioHello I’m Son Min, a journalist at BloomingBit
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