I publish an article from https://habrahabr.ru
There are several options for the catastrophic death of Bitcoin. First of all, these are technical malfunctions (for example, some kind of bug that will allow you to steal all the coins). Secondly, an economic error (for example, the code will change and give someone at a time 10 million coins). Third, a consensus error (for example, Bitcoin will split into two roughly equal currencies).
Among the technical failures, the most likely vulnerability is the encryption used by Bitcoin, or the security of the consensus code used. Vulnerability in encryption ("smart" attack against a particular elliptical curve used in Bitcoin) naturally goes to most other coins using the same cryptographic libraries. Vulnerability in security will again extend to all coins with the same code.
In any case, the question arises: what will happen if something of the above happens all the same? First, if the vulnerability is detected quickly enough, then most likely Bitcoin developers will have time to write the necessary patch and, probably, will immediately create a fork that is not subject to this risk. In fact, something similar has already happened, and then the reaction of the community was fork.
It is more interesting to know what will happen if the moment is missed. Most likely, the price will drop sharply not only on Bitcoin, but also on the majority of altcoyins, because people will stop trusting crypto currency as such. By and large, we do not know if there are any vulnerabilities in the altcoyins.
Under the economic mistake, one should understand certain changes in the economic rules of Bitcoin itself. Bitcoin has never had such a situation, moreover, such an opportunity has never even been discussed. We know for sure that any changes require the full consent of the entire community. Such an outcome, as a rule, is inadmissible a priori.
On the other hand, the prevention of technical and economic mistakes requires the presence of a talented, dedicated and reliable team of developers, as well as the risks that need to be countered. Of course, all altcoyins are at risk, however, it should be noted that Bitcoin is one of the few crypto-currencies that has a natural barrier in the form of alternative customers.
The last drawback, perhaps, is a real threat, from which it is worth insuring. Debate on scaling showed that in the community, at least, there is a desire to divide the network. Offer to make soft-fork, activated by users or, or activate the function of disabling consensus.
Both say that in reality Bitcoin does not have a leader and there is no dominant position. The majority of altcoyins have a creator, the so-called "magnanimous dictator", who in fact decides the fate of the currency. The fact that Bitcoin does not have it carries a certain risk. Although there is a positive moment in the absence of such a "magnanimous dictator" - the risk of economic error is reduced.
