[rufusroflpunch]

If you are accepting that the network can hard fork to change the hash algorithm, then why not accept that they can do a soft fork to blacklist UTXOs or any one of who-knows-how many possible defenses? Changing the hashing algorithm is a nuclear option and probably not necessary in the astronomically unlikely event that someone managed to get 51% of hash rate for any amount of time.

edit: Blacklisting UTXOs is entirely possible as I mentioned, and as I said, it should be achievable by soft fork. This would be the proof of work equivalent of slashing. I have a hard time believing Vitalik doesn’t know this. Is he being dishonest? I don’t know.

[randomran01234]

Good question, I’d be interested to hear a core dev’s thoughts on this.

[randomran01234]

I’ve thought about this a bit more.

You can target the UXTO so that their value in crypto starts back at zero. But because they still have the mining hardware, they still control 51% of the hash power that secures the network. They can just mine from a different address and it won’t be clear who to target until they once again begin to produce majority blocks on the chain. This way they can continually attack the chain and render it useless.

When you burn a PoW miner’s crypto addresses, you aren’t burning their capital and stake, because it’s in the form of mining hardware, not tokens. When you burn a PoS staker’s crypto, you are burning their capital and stake which is in the form of tokens.