Thursday, October 11, 2018

Cryptocurrencies with lower market capitalization have the greatest risk of 51% mining attacks

Colleagues, the threat of 51% attacks loom large in the global cryptosphere. However, findings suggest that the potential for a 51% mining attack has an inverse correlation to the market cap of a given cryptocurrency. Attacks by a group of miners controlling more than 50% of the network's mining hashrate or computing power of the currency’s Blockchain. Two factors drive the propensity of a cryptocurrency 51% attack. First, cryptos with smaller market caps typically have fewer active miners. It is easier to gain control over 1000 miners of ZCoin, which ranks 100th in market cap by CoinMarketCap at some $60m USD #1 ranked Bitcoin valued at roughly $114t USD with perhaps 1,000,000 active miners worldwide. Second, the availability of relatively low-cost mining pools enable cyber criminals the opportunity to “rent” GPU power from multiple pools simultaneously while subtly approaching the 51%+ threshold for controlling hashrates. Pre-emptive measures include making code changes at the Blockchain protocol level, boycotting likely attackers, increasing the number of confirmation requirements and unleashing a DDoS attacks on suspected hackers. Bottom line: There is no fail-safe strategy become a victim of a 51% Attack, however, investing in Tier 1 cryptocurrencies (e.g. the CoinMarketCap’s top 10 cryptos) provides optimal security and peace of mind. Post a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/


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