What is a 51% Attack?

 

A 51% attack refers to an attack on the blockchain (most commonly these attacks are still fictitious Bitcoin) by a group of miners who control more than 50% of the network's mining Hash-Rate or processing power.

By preventing new transactions from being confirmed, an attacker can stop payments between some or all users. It also allows you to reverse completed transactions while controlling the network, allowing you to double use your coins.

You can almost certainly not create new coins or change old blocks. The 51% attack will not directly destroy Bitcoin or any other blockchain-based currency, even if it turns out to be extremely damaging.

 

 

 

 

look at a glance

--- Blockchain is a distributed ledger that records all transactions performed on a cryptocurrency network.

--- 51% attack is a blockchain attack on a group of miners who control more than 50% of the network mining hashrate.

--- An attacker who controls most of the network can stop writing new blocks by preventing other miners from completing them.

--- Changing past blocks is difficult because we hard-code past transactions into Bitcoin software.

 

 

 

 

 

How a 51% Attack Works

 

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are based on blockchain, a form of distributed ledger. This digital file records all transactions that take place on the cryptocurrency network and is available for review by all users and the general public. As a result, no one can spend a penny twice. (So-called “private blockchains” introduce authorizations that prevent certain users from publicly viewing all data on the blockchain.)

As the name suggests, a blockchain is a blockchain, which is a bundle of data that records all transactions completed over a specified period of time. With Bitcoin, a new block is created approximately every 10 minutes. Once a block is completed or disassembled, it cannot be changed as a fraudulent version of the public ledger can be quickly discovered and rejected by network users.

However, by controlling most of the computing power on the network, an attacker or group of attackers can disrupt the process of writing new blocks. It can prevent other miners from completing blocks. In theory, you can monopolize the mining of new blocks and get all the rewards.

 

 

 

 

Bitcoin

In the case of Bitcoin, the reward is currently 12.5 newly created Bitcoins, but will eventually drop to zero. You can block other users' transactions, send them, and then return them to make it look like you have the coins you just used. This vulnerability, known as double spending, is a fundamental cryptographic obstacle on which digitally perfect counterfeiting and blockchains are built. Networks that allow double spending quickly lose trust.

Changing the past block, which is a locked transaction before the attack starts, would be very difficult even if a 51% attack occurred. The further you are behind a transaction, the harder it is to change the transaction. It is not possible to change a transaction before a checkpoint. Behind the checkpoint, the transaction is hard-coded into Bitcoin software.

On the other hand, the 51% attack form is possible with less than 50% of the network's mining power, but the probability of success is low.

 

 

 

51% Attack Real-World Examples 

Two Ethereum-based blockchains, Krypton and Shift, were hit by a 51% attack in August 2016.

In May 2018, Bitcoin Gold, the 26th largest cryptocurrency at the time, suffered a 51% attack. Malicious actors controlled much of the hash power of Bitcoin Gold, so even if Bitcoin Gold repeatedly attempts to increase the exchange threshold, the attackers will spend doubling over days and eventually end up with $18 million in Bitcoin. You can steal more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

51% Attack vs. 34% Attack

 

A distributed ledger designed to achieve a fundamentally different but similar goal, the Tangle could theoretically succumb to attackers providing more than a third of the network hashrate known as a 34% attack.