“Censorship resistance” is a central concept in the blockchain field. You have certainly heard of it if you have entered the sulphurous world of cryptocurrencies.
It is the most important element of blockchain in the sense that it brings together the main advantages of using this type of infrastructure.
What does censorship resistance mean?
Resisting censorship involves 3 main ideas of resistance. The first is that concerning total freedom of transaction. No one can stop you from sending or receiving assets. The other resistance relates to confiscation. No one can freeze your accounts or block them. The third resistance is the fact that it is impossible to return or modify an already validated transaction.
Now let's see what this means in detail.
Decentralization
In fact, the expression has several definitions depending on the angle from which you look. Firstly, when we talk about censorship resistance, we are referring to the concept of blockchain decentralization. Decentralization implies that the distributed networks do not have a central authority that can censor transactions carried out on the network.
This can be said to be the first meaning of the term "censorship resistance". This is the sense in which the term is used in most cases.
Immutability
When we talk about resistance to censorship, we can also mention the fact that we cannot delete or modify transactions once they have been validated. This is the immutability of the blockchain. Any change (no matter how small) must be approved by all nodes on the network.
Why is censorship resistance such an important concept?
The fact that there is no central authority (no nation, no state, no organization) that can control the network is a major argument that unites cryptographies. It is for this reason that the cypherpunks (at the origin of the design of Bitcoin) sought to create a decentralized system.
Thus, resistance to censorship ensures that the laws which govern the network are unalterable and cannot be modified without consensus. All the players in the network would have to agree. It is the democratic rule of the majority that applies.
Conversely, centralized systems are inherently subject to censorship, should the need arise. In a centralized system like a State, it is very easy to freeze individual accounts. It is for example a predictable scenario in the event of a crisis to avoid bank runs (bank panic).
? We can take the example of Greece in 2015, where Greek citizens were limited to withdrawing a maximum of 50 euros per day. It wasn't until 2018 that the restrictions were lifted. In Lebanon, in 2022, we saw improbable scenes of self-robbing banks. Customers are trying to recover their own deposits in banks.
Why is Bitcoin “censorship resistant”?
With Bitcoin, no government could freeze accounts or stop the network from functioning. To be precise, let's say that it is possible in theory but almost impossible to achieve. The resources to "block" Bitcoin would be far too large and disproportionate compared to the expected benefits.
Now let's talk about the 51% attack.
As we mentioned above, Bitcoin relies on majority rule. Thus, to initiate a change, the majority of players (who therefore hold 50% of the hash rate) must agree. This is why we talk about a 51% attack.
However, in concrete terms, a 51% attack would be very difficult and complex to set up. It would be almost impossible given how extensive the network is and how many different individuals there are in the world who make it "work".
51% attacks have already been carried out as we saw in 2016 with the Krypton network. However, these are much inferior networks in size and security than Bitcoin.
?? See also:
- Read other articles in the category Educations et Bitcoin.
- The problem of Worldcoin wanting to scan our eyes to distribute cryptocurrencies
Note: No financial advice is given in this or any other article on zonebitcoin. This is information of which you are the sole judge and master. Be responsible with your investments and only invest as much as you are willing to lose.
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