The only way they make money (cash out) is if trust remains in the bitcoin platform. By doing 51%, they tank the platform itself. No liquidity. Provable and transparent majority attack is MAD in the strictest sense.
>The only way they make money (cash out) is if trust remains in the bitcoin platform.
Not if their cash isn't - somewhat ironically - tied up in BTC.
Really, I'm sure between the two of us, we could imagine a thousand and one viable ways of making a tonne of cash very, very quickly that wouldn't involve transacting in BTC at any point!
Not sure I follow you here. How would they make money from controlling BTC other than by selling it? ...which is impossible if they break it, as argued above.
Why would the price plummeting matter to them if they've already made their money?