Ethereum Core Developer Justin Drake Highlights the Cost of 51% Attack on Bitcoin
Ethereum core developer Justin Drake recently pointed out that the cost of launching a 51% attack (one form of double-spending attack) on Bitcoin is approximately $10 billion, significantly lower than the cost of attacking Ethereum.
(Background summary: Double-spending attack alert! Costs of 51% attack on Bitcoin and 34% attack on Ethereum exceed $10 billion; Coin Metrics: Hackers find no profit)
(Additional background: Potential double-spending attack! ViaBTC mining pool controls over 51% of Zcash’s hashrate, officials state: PoW-PoS hybrid model can resolve this)
According to a report by Cointelegraph, Ethereum core developer Justin Drake recently stated that the cost of executing a 51% attack on Bitcoin is much lower, estimated at about $10 billion, which is far less than the cost of attacking Ethereum:
The cost of a 51% attack on Bitcoin is much lower, approximately $10 billion, far below the cost of attacking Ethereum.
High Cost of Ethereum 51% Attack
Drake further mentioned that to fully control the Ethereum blockchain, an attacker would need to hold more than 50% plus 1 of the staked tokens. The report from Cointelegraph notes that there are currently 34,168,987 Ether (ETH) staked, with a total value of approximately $89.6 billion. Therefore, the current value of half of the Ether is about $44.8 billion. Additionally, the actual cost of an attack could be much higher, as such a large-scale operation might lead to a significant increase in the price of Ether (due to heightened demand from attackers), which would further escalate the attack cost.
Moreover, Drake emphasized that Ethereum possesses another unique advantage compared to Bitcoin. He explained, “In the event of a 51% attack, the community can identify the attacker and impose social penalties.” He added, “This is a unique capability of the Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism, which Proof of Work (PoW) cannot achieve.”
Furthermore, P2P.org researcher Pavel Yashin also pointed out that if centralized issues are detected, the community can resolve the problems through a new fork. The old tokens will be delisted, and the compromised chain will become irrelevant.
What Are Double-Spending Attacks and 51% Attacks?
A double-spending attack refers to an attacker’s attempt to spend the same digital currency twice or multiple times. This exploits a vulnerability in the blockchain consensus mechanism, allowing the attacker to deceive the network into accepting already spent transactions, thereby compromising the integrity of transactions.
A 51% attack is a form of double-spending attack where the attacker controls more than 50% of the mining power of the blockchain network (in PoW systems, such as Bitcoin) or staking rights (in PoS systems, such as Ethereum), thus manipulating transaction records. This may include reversing confirmed transactions, preventing new transactions from being confirmed, or executing double-spending. The costs of a 51% attack are high, and its destructive potential to network trust is significant.
However, discussions regarding 51% attacks currently remain primarily theoretical, with actual execution being extremely challenging. Bitcoin requires massive computational power and energy, while Ethereum’s PoS mechanism introduces economic and governance deterrents.
Overall, the stronger the anti-attack capabilities of these two major cryptocurrencies, the more beneficial it is for the stability and trust of the entire cryptocurrency market.
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