How Bitcoin could be destroyed
How do you destroy something that’s indestructible?
How do you destroy something that’s indestructible?
Bitcoin has long been hailed as the most resilient monetary network ever conceived, a digital fortress powered by decentralisation, cryptographic security, and absolute scarcity. And while it can’t be destroyed in the traditional sense, unless, say, you shut off the internet, electricity, and every computer on the planet, there are ways it can be undermined. Slowly. Subtly. Strategically.
In this piece, we want to explore the uncomfortable truth: Bitcoin is not invincible. It is, however, extremely hard to kill. Which is exactly why those who may want to control or dismantle it must resort to indirect methods. Let’s break them down.
The Three Pillars of Bitcoin’s Strength, And Their Weak Spots
Bitcoin’s robustness comes from three interwoven properties:
Decentralisation
Security
Scarcity
If one were to try and damage Bitcoin over time, attacking any of these vectors could, in theory, do real harm. But make no mistake: this wouldn’t happen overnight. It would be a slow drip, a “boiling frog” approach, where damage accrues unnoticed until it’s too late. Let’s examine how this could unfold.
1. Undermining Decentralisation: Herding the Nodes and Miners
Bitcoin’s decentralisation is its soul. Thousands of nodes, spread across the globe, collectively decide what transactions are valid and what rules govern the protocol.
Yet, over the years, mining has become highly centralised. A small number of industrial-scale mining companies and pools now dominate the network’s hash rate. While there’s no immediate danger, these miners have no incentive to attack the system that feeds them, it does create a potential vulnerability.
If mining were to become consolidated under just a few umbrellas, those players could collude, manipulate blocks, censor transactions, or carry out a 51% attack. They’d likely self-destruct in the process, but the theoretical risk is there.
Fortunately, innovation is pushing back. Devices like Bitaxe miners, small, affordable, credit card–sized units, are helping redistribute hash power by putting mining into the hands of everyday users. It’s not yet enough to counterbalance the mega-miners, but it’s a promising shift. Still, if you were intent on weakening Bitcoin, consolidating control over mining would be your first stop.
2. Cracking the Security: Centralisation and the Quantum Threat
Bitcoin’s security rests on mathematics, namely, the SHA-256 hashing algorithm and elliptic curve cryptography. The network recently surpassed one zettahash of compute power, making it the most secure computer network in human history.
But it’s not unbreakable. If a powerful enough quantum computer emerged, capable of running Shor’s Algorithm at scale, it could theoretically reverse-engineer private keys from public ones, rendering wallets vulnerable and destroying confidence in the system.
Is that a realistic threat? Not for now. Despite some hype, most estimates suggest we’re 20 to 50 years away from a practical quantum threat. Even then, using such a machine to attack Bitcoin would need to remain covert, because the moment people knew it was happening, the entire global internet infrastructure would be called into question.
A more likely near-term threat lies again in centralisation. If a handful of public mining companies, or Coinbase, which now holds Bitcoin on behalf of several ETFs, were to coordinate shutdowns or act under government pressure, the network could be temporarily weakened. But again: thanks to its decentralised nature, Bitcoin has no single point of failure. So far.
3. Diluting Scarcity: The Concentration of Supply
Bitcoin’s hard cap of 21 million coins makes it the scarcest asset ever created. But scarcity alone doesn’t guarantee fairness or resistance to manipulation.
A troubling trend is the growing centralisation of coin ownership. Consider this:
MicroStrategy now holds over 0.5 million BTC.
The U.S.-approved ETFs collectively own over 1 million BTC, much of it custodied by Coinbase.
Most ETF issuers (aside from Fidelity) do not self-custody their coins.
This means one entity, Coinbase, controls a massive chunk of circulating Bitcoin, creating a potential chokepoint. If pressured by a government (as happened with gold in the 1930s), Coinbase could be compelled to freeze, transfer, or surrender assets.
Even so, it’s important to note that no matter how many Bitcoin you hold—whether it’s one satoshi or one million, you have zero control over the protocol. You can’t change the rules, censor the network, or inflate the supply. That power remains with the distributed node operators. But what if they are slowly influenced, too?
The Final Attack Vector: Quietly Capturing the Codebase
This is where things get really insidious.
If you can’t break Bitcoin directly, and you can’t seize the coins or destroy the miners, then your last best option is to influence the codebase. Convince developers to make subtle, unnecessary changes. Push updates that degrade performance. Blur Bitcoin’s purpose by letting it be used for spam, cloud storage, or NFTs, turning it into an Ethereum clone.
Recent controversy around Bitcoin Core’s OP_RETURN change shows how delicate this issue is. Some developers are raising alarms about possible behind-the-scenes influence—especially with certain patches that lack clear justification or benefits.
This isn’t a claim that Bitcoin is being actively sabotaged. But it is a reminder: vigilance is key.
If we Wanted to Destroy Bitcoin…
Let’s play devil’s advocate.
If I were a powerful actor who saw Bitcoin as a threat to my control over the monetary system, I wouldn’t go for a frontal assault. I’d:
Gradually centralise mining (already happening).
Encourage institutions to hoard the supply (underway).
Influence the codebase with well-funded developer pushes.
Hide my intentions beneath useful-sounding upgrades.
Avoid triggering alarm bells by attacking all vectors slowly.
Death by a thousand cuts.
And by the time the average Bitcoiner notices? The network may still exist, but its purpose, strength, and sovereignty could be long gone.
The Good News: We’re Still Early Enough to Resist
The threats are real, but they’re not inevitable. There are developers, node runners, and home miners across the world working to keep Bitcoin honest, open, and free.
But it’s down to us, users, builders, thinkers, to maintain that decentralised spirit. Run a node. Mine if you can. Support alternative Bitcoin clients like Bitcoin Knots. Question every upgrade. And above all: stay informed.
Because while Bitcoin cannot be destroyed outright… it can be misled.
And that might be the greater risk.