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Better wording for 'be they are legitimate governments' from issue #41

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Minh T. Nguyen 2014-06-06 08:13:13 -07:00 committed by Andreas M. Antonopoulos
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@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ Issuers of paper money are constantly battling the counterfeiting problem by usi
When cryptography started becoming more broadly available and understood in the late 1980s, many researchers began trying to use cryptography to build digital currencies. These early digital currency projects issued digital money, usually backed by a national currency or precious metal such as gold.
While these earlier digital currencies worked, they were centralized and as a result they were easy to attack by governments and hackers. Early digital currencies used a central clearinghouse to settle all transactions at regular intervals, just like a traditional banking system. Unfortunately, in most cases these nascent digital currencies were targeted by worried governments and eventually litigated out of existence. Some failed in spectacular crashes when the parent company liquidated abruptly. To be robust against intervention by antagonists, be they are legitimate governments or criminal elements, a digital currency is needed to avoid the use of a central currency issuer or transaction clearing authority that could be a single point of attack. Bitcoin is such a system, completely de-centralized by design, lacking any central authority or point of control that can be attacked or corrupted.
While these earlier digital currencies worked, they were centralized and as a result they were easy to attack by governments and hackers. Early digital currencies used a central clearinghouse to settle all transactions at regular intervals, just like a traditional banking system. Unfortunately, in most cases these nascent digital currencies were targeted by worried governments and eventually litigated out of existence. Some failed in spectacular crashes when the parent company liquidated abruptly. To be robust against intervention by antagonists, whether they are legitimate governments or criminal elements, a digital currency is needed to avoid the use of a central currency issuer or transaction clearing authority that could be a single point of attack. Bitcoin is such a system, completely de-centralized by design, lacking any central authority or point of control that can be attacked or corrupted.
Bitcoin represents the culmination of decades of research in cryptography and distributed systems and includes four key innovations brought together in a unique and powerful combination. Bitcoin consists of: