RE: There will only ever be 21m BTC5 Jan 2024 22:56
TOTHE MOON, anyone can start a node so its possible for a bad actor to run multiple 1000's of nodes from a single location. Mining operations costs become unaffordable as the Bitcoin reward reduces, in the absence of an ever increasing price, so the big miners will likely go bust if the price doesn't hold up post the Halvings. If all the big miners go bust with only small miners left processing Blocks, it opens up the possibility of a 51% attack by entities who see an opportunity; Plus there'd be lots of cheap ASIC rigs flooding the market.
"How Does A 51% Attack Work?
Diving deeper into the mechanics of a 51% attack, let’s explore the step-by-step process an attacker follows to gain and exploit control over a blockchain network. While the exact specifics of an attack can vary depending on several factors, here’s a simplified, general sequence of events that typically characterizes such an attack:
Accumulate Power: The first step involves the attacker accumulating more than half (51%) of the network’s computational or hashing power. This could be accomplished by acquiring substantial hardware resources or convincing a large number of miners to join a pool under the attacker’s control.
Partitioning: The attacker, now commanding a majority of the network’s hashing power, effectively segregates their group from the main network while still maintaining internal communication. Despite this separation, the hacking group proceeds with mining operations but refrains from sharing their progress with the primary network or receiving updates from it. Consequently, two parallel versions of the blockchain start evolving independently.
Fast-Paced Mining: Due to their superior hashing power, the attacker’s group is able to add blocks to their version of the blockchain faster than the rest of the network. Over time, the difference in length between the two versions of the chain becomes statistically proportional to the difference in hashing power between the two groups.
Reintegration and Dominance: Once the hacking group rejoins the network, the two competing versions of the blockchain propagate through the entire network. According to the consensus protocol’s rules, the nodes keep the longest blockchain, and the shorter one is discarded. This means all the blocks added by the main network during the separation period get orphaned, and their transactions are released back into the Mempool.
Potential Threats: Upon successful execution, a 51% attack can open Pandora’s box of threats that can significantly impact a blockchain network and its participants. These threats range from financial fraud in the form of double-spending to outright denial of service attacks that paralyze network functionality.
High Cost Of 51% Attacks
It’s worth noting that a 51% attack is not an easy task, it requires a significant amount of resources and time. This hefty financial and technical load makes it unaffordable for most people."
https://hacken.io/disc
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