[FLT-bird]

But who controls and maintains the peer-to-peer system?

Nobody controls it. Its on the Blockchain.

Transactions are processed by miners, are they not.

No. They are not.

Who controls the miners?

Nobody

I'm not saying there isn't value to the bitcoin system, but it appears to lack a system of checks and balances that, in the end, would be enforced by a legal system. In other words, it appears bitcoin owners don't have legal recourse in the event the system is hacked or intentionally broken.

The Blockchain IS checks and balances. It does not require somebody else to process transactions or to clear transactions or whatever. That's what it is to be peer to peer. Its not like Escrow at a Bank. There is no way to "hack" the ledger. It would immediately be obvious to everybody since the Ledger is open and on the internet. The only way to stop Bitcoin is to shut down the entire Internet world wide. And in my experience, I have yet to come across a system that is perfectly unbreakable, particularly when there's money to be made from breaking it.

[RoosterRedux]

So, for example, a “51% attack” by a cartel is impossible?

[RoosterRedux]

And are you saying that a criminal organization cannot create a cryptocurrency, including a variant of Bitcoin, with inherent flaws or malicious features.

Couldn't developers pre-mine a large number of coins for themselves before the cryptocurrency is made available to the public. They might also include hidden inflation mechanisms to create new coins for themselves secretly.

And couldn't developers intentionally introduce backdoors or vulnerabilities in the code that allow them to manipulate the blockchain, steal funds, or reverse transactions.

And couldn't developers create a cryptocurrency designed to appear decentralized but actually be controlled by a small group of nodes operated by the developers.

Just curious.