What is Censorship Resistance?
Censorship resistance is Bitcoin's ability to process transactions regardless of their origin, destination, or purpose, without third-party interference. This fundamental property ensures that Bitcoin remains neutral, permissionless, and accessible to everyone.
For Bitcoin to maintain this property, its mining infrastructure must be sufficiently decentralized to prevent any single entity or group from controlling transaction inclusion or exclusion. This means a significant portion of the network's hashrate should come from miners that operate outside of regulated markets.
Key Concepts
The 51% Attack Threshold
For Bitcoin to remain censorship resistant, at least 51% of the total network hashrate should come from miners that cannot be easily targeted by governments or regulators. This threshold represents the fundamental security boundary that prevents any entity from successfully censoring transactions.
Guerrilla Mining
(Black Market)
Miners operating covertly outside the regulatory framework, typically in distributed small-scale or home environments. Their anonymous nature and geographic dispersion make them resistant to regulatory pressures, providing a crucial foundation for Bitcoin's censorship resistance.
Regulated Mining
(White Market)
Miners operating as registered businesses under regulatory supervision, generally in large industrial facilities. Their compliance requirements make them susceptible to governmental control and policy mandates, creating potential vectors for on-chain censorship if they control too much hashrate.
Permissionless Architecture
Bitcoin's fundamental design allows anyone to participate without requiring approval from any central authority. This architectural property ensures that no single entity can control who may access the network, submit transactions, or contribute hashrate, creating a structurally robust defense against censorship.
Current Bitcoin Network Stats
Block Height
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Current block height
Network Hashrate
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Current network hashrate
Network Difficulty
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Current network difficulty
Block Fees
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Average fees per block