Ask HN: What if WannaCry would have tried issuing fake Bitcoins? - tarikozket
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Lan
Not a whole lot. The fastest CPUs will net you less than 100 MH/s [0]. The
fastest single-card GPU configurations will net you around 1,000 MH/s [0]. The
current total hash rate is around 5,000,000,000,000 MH/s [1]. WannaCry
affected around 300,000 PCs [2]. So if every WannaCry miner was operating off
CPU and getting 100 MH/s, it would only be 30,000,000 MH/s. Or 0.0006% of the
current total hash rate. If they all had high-end GPUs getting them 1,000 MH/s
then that would bring it up to 300,000,000 MH/s. Or 0.006% of the current
total hash rate. So WannaCry wouldn't even be a drop in the bucket. If you're
wondering how the hash rate is so high, it's because mining has switched to
using ASICs, the fastest of which run around 14,000,000 MH/s [3].

[0] [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Non-
specialized_hardware_comparis...](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Non-
specialized_hardware_comparison)

[1] [https://blockchain.info/charts/hash-
rate](https://blockchain.info/charts/hash-rate)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WannaCry_ransomware_attack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WannaCry_ransomware_attack)

[3]
[https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison)

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axonic
If I understand the OP correctly, he means could the blockchain be attacked by
a vast number of infected hosts, causing a malware-induced change in the
consensus of nodes, allowing BTC to be illicitly acquired, spent, or produced.

I believe controlling a massive number of nodes in the network via infection
techniques like WannaCry used would open the door for many actual and
hypothetical attacks. Please see the Bitcoin Wiki page titled Weaknesses [1]
for more details about attacks involving the control of network resources.

More realistically, a simpler attack would be to go for control of the wallets
if you have that kind of access to the infected hosts. However, if an actor
had an interest in devaluing Bitcoin, to buy after a crash and sell after
recovery perhaps, or just destabilize users' trust and destroy it (states?)
then there could be a lot of profit in it I believe. Bitcoin has many
competitors and enemies, is this something we should worry about?

[1]
[https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Weaknesses](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Weaknesses)

~~~
tarikozket
This is exactly what I meant.

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download13
Can you clarify?

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miguelrochefort
There's no such thing as fake Bitcoins.

