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Topic: 51% attack resistance? (Read 845 times)

full member
Activity: 196
Merit: 100
June 21, 2013, 05:08:07 PM
#10
I see the phrase "51% attack" used all the time it's like "the bogeyman".

if you mean a double-spend then no coin can resist it in theory if you have the majority of the hashing power on a blockchain you can write almost what you want to it.

51% isn't necessarily going to be enough, in a POW scenario.  I don't understand the POS math so I can't speak on required percentages or weights for those, it seems some of them may require (much) less than 51% of the network stake to pull a double-spend like attack.

There was a thread about powercoin being "51% attacked" I didn't have time to research it but just scanning it sounded like a blockchain switch of some sort. I suspect that one would take more than 51% too but not sure.

Are there other "51% attacks"?
legendary
Activity: 3108
Merit: 1359
June 21, 2013, 04:15:01 PM
#9
That's why I said 51%-type. It still takes some balls to attack a coin you have a 25% stake in.
25% stake weight, not 25% stake or 25% of stakes volume. It's not the same...

Just an example, if average stakes age is 1/3 of maximum, you can use outputs with maximum age to reduce required coins amount dramatically.
sr. member
Activity: 406
Merit: 250
The cryptocoin watcher
June 21, 2013, 02:33:28 PM
#8
That's why I said 51%-type. It still takes some balls to attack a coin you have a 25% stake in.
legendary
Activity: 3108
Merit: 1359
June 21, 2013, 02:15:11 PM
#7
A 51%-type PoS attack is very self destructive though, the attacker is damaging themself by decreasing the coin's value.

OP asked for "resistant" not "immune", so all PoW+PoS coins would deserve some consideration.
Don't forget that you don't need 51% of stake weight to perform successful double-spend. 20-25% of total stake weight (not coins) will be enough for successful attack against current PoS+PoW implementations without checkpointing.

Stake weight maximization + PoW blocks rate increasing + balanced PoS/PoW weighting will resolve this problem. NovaCoin developed this way in 0.4.1 => 0.4.2 => 0.4.3.
sr. member
Activity: 406
Merit: 250
The cryptocoin watcher
June 21, 2013, 02:10:27 PM
#6
A 51%-type PoS attack is very self destructive though, the attacker is damaging themself by decreasing the coin's value.

OP asked for "resistant" not "immune", so all PoW+PoS coins would deserve some consideration.
legendary
Activity: 1696
Merit: 1008
June 21, 2013, 01:04:03 PM
#5
SolidCoin is vulnerable to double-spend by owner of enough coins amount (1M or more).

So no working solution to 51% attack at this time? Other than overpowering a potential attacker? Seems with the abundance of coins coming into play, mining will become so diversified that coins will be attacked and killed (like pwc). I guess this is the digital version of natural selection. The weak will die off and only the strong will survive. Pretty cool. Be careful where u invest ur money!
legendary
Activity: 3108
Merit: 1359
June 21, 2013, 12:55:10 PM
#4
SolidCoin is vulnerable to double-spend by owner of enough coins amount (1M or more).
legendary
Activity: 1696
Merit: 1008
June 21, 2013, 12:49:39 PM
#3
Solid coin?
newbie
Activity: 42
Merit: 0
June 21, 2013, 12:38:39 PM
#2
There are no public implementations resistant to 51% attacks.
legendary
Activity: 1696
Merit: 1008
June 21, 2013, 12:34:43 PM
#1
Which coins are resistant to 51% attacks? Why aren't they all?
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