If this type of attack was common I would imagine that sooner or later we would hear complaints from the merchants who got scammed. Also, I’m not sure what this attack would really achieve for a state actor. Distrust in the network? I think it would be easier for them to bribe merchants claiming to be scammed to support a disinformation campaign. I think your point that we wouldn’t discover the attack as fast as on Bitcoin is valid but I don’t think it would remain undetected forever.
Discussion
This is my thinking too. If you are a nation state, and want users to distrust the network, why not just spin up a bunch of miners to attack it and/or regulate white markets?
More direct and easier to attack than 1) trying to figure out if a double spend bug even exists in the first place and 2) secretly double spending low amounts slowly over time that would have virtually no affect on price which means no users would even know. If it isn't enough to change anything does it really matter?
So a "whistle blower" or "hacker" *wink wink* coming out in a few years with the totally organic revelation that a state has had majority hash for the last several years and 1/1000 spends was false over the last several years would not reduce confidence and the market share of Monero ?
Keep in mind the attack is funded by the attack itself, with a net zero cost. The way the state sets up fake drug markets and exchanges, speak easies.
What i'm saying is: yes, and those other things too. They are not limited to only one strategy at a time.
Good point
Guys take this list and ask yourself how much it costs in effort and time to run these attack on the individual. What percentage of this effort does running a server farm to fuck with monero for fun represent to the state ? 1% 2% ? More or even less than 1%
Bribing the merchants would leave a "paper trail" or "finger print" of sorts as just a few merchants who receive such an offer but reject it or merchants who accepted but defect later, would be loose ends. Way too much investment in people and messy people management.
Several strategic blows to undermine it would be hands of with little pointing back to the attacker.
**would be hands off
Where would you hear the complaints ? Reddit censors negative comments, twitter is bots and noise... One out of every thousand small amount double spend is millions of dollars in the aggregate on a long enough timeline, but not individually painful enough to alert anyone.
You cannot prove to me that this is not happening, not even in a round about way through inference the way moneroinflation .com can show inflation is not taking place.
That is all the evidence i need to make my case that this is an issue.
With Bitcoin, ( or more accurately public ledger blockchains, i'm not shilling Bitcoin vs Monero) anyone can know where and when even dust is lost.