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Re:ShadowBrokers: The NSA Compromised the SWIFT Network by AdamJacobMuller on Friday April 14, 2017 @02:53PM (#14116325)
Agreed. The point is that USGOV could 100% do it, for pocket change. It would be pocket change for a bunch of countries, really, and expensive but doable for a whole lot more.

I would assume the only reason we haven't done it has nothing to do with the cost, its simply that bitcoin is just not interesting enough to them (yet). I can't imagine that some USGOV and probably >1 non-us-gov have plans already and could rapidly build out an ASIC farm, if asked to do so (and funded, of course).

Re:ShadowBrokers: The NSA Compromised the SWIFT Network by SAI_Peregrinus on Saturday April 15, 2017 @10:15AM (#14120782)
The NSA has its own fab (IC fabrication plant). That makes rapidly building out an ASIC farm even easier.
Re:ShadowBrokers: The NSA Compromised the SWIFT Network by ethbro on Friday April 14, 2017 @06:32PM (#14117929)
China doing so to halt capital flight is far more likely.
Re:ShadowBrokers: The NSA Compromised the SWIFT Network by AdamJacobMuller on Friday April 14, 2017 @10:46PM (#14119060)
Agreed. China doing it is way more likely in general because they could walk in and take over enough capacity to reduce the capex required for takeover (by combining stolen capacity + new capacity) by perhaps 75%. It would also make it way harder to notice, because a massive new mining pool trying to pull things in a new direction would be obvious. Several established mining ops shifting direction would be less obvious.