[thrill]

The exception proves the rule here. The only way to override the "code is law" model was to create a new coin, using the fact that a majority of miners voting for a particular new model means that becomes the new model - the creators just used their community weight to keep the old name. They most explicitly were not able to change the values in the old blockchain without the fork.

[ubernostrum]

The exception shows there was no rule. The "rule" was "code is law, up until 51% of the network decides it isn't". If your transactions can be wiped out by a fork leaving you on a dwindling/minority version of the transaction history, you fundamentally cannot trust the system. "We only did it once" doesn't work, either, because if they'll do it once they'll do it again, and no amount of bombast will convince me (since, after all, they made bombastic assurances before they decided to make the first exception).

Also, "the exception proves the rule" is a misinterpretation of the phrase. "Proves" here means "puts to the test", and the saying means that you can tell whether a rule holds up by seeing what happens when it is tested. Ethereum demonstrated that the rule does not hold up.

[jerkstate]

An interesting side note of that is if the majority of miners voting decided to zap the wallets of all known nazis and white supremacists, they could do that too.

[TheSpiceIsLife]

It's interesting to note that existing financial institutions can do this too. And in fact they do, if they suspect you are involved in a variety of criminal activity they can freeze your accounts and alert law enforcement.

However, those institutions are subject to the rule of law, and if you are wrongly treated you can expect restitution.

From my perspective, cryptocurrencies are a sort of wild wild west at the moment where the standard appears to be: if you are wrongly treated good luck!.