Part 3/9:
One participant highlighted that a significant portion of Bitcoin supporters lacks a comprehensive understanding of computer science. This leads to misconceptions, such as equating hash power directly with overall security and transaction capacity. The question askers ponder is, "What is hash power actually good for?" This prompts a critical analysis of hash power's role in cryptographic processes: verifying signatures, creating Merkle roots, and solving the proof-of-work problem for block generation.
Hash Power vs. ECDSA and Merkle Roots
In laying out the cryptographic functions of Bitcoin, the participant raised three critical points: