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by EthanHeilman 2572 days ago
Well Bitcoin mining could "break SHA-256 and render it insecure" by:

1. exploiting cryptanalytic weaknesses in SHA-256,

2. successes in new computing paradigms such as a large scale quantum computer using Grover's algorithm.

3. or turning the local galactic cluster into computronium for SHA-256 miners. Although at that point we have bigger problems. =)

If you think SHA-256 will not be broken anytime soon then that suggests that you believe that mining difficulty increases will slow down.