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Doesn't the reliability of bitcoin stem from it being very difficult for any one entity to control over 50% of the computing power in the network? News like this makes it seem like a state sponsored actor could do it without too much trouble.

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It's easy to get over 50% of the hashing power: just buy it. Bitcoin is especially vulnerable during technology transitions; e.g. in July 2010 a single Radeon GPU was more powerful than the entire Bitcoin network so you could have performed a 51% attack for $300 plus some epic hacking.

Right, but of course Satoshi's argument is that it would be far more valuable for you to have just used that Radeon to mine ;)

> Right, but of course Satoshi's argument is that it would be far more valuable for you to have just used that Radeon to mine

Value depends on personal desire... Not all people want the same things.

That's why we use money to exchange goods and services ;)

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