Cryptocurrencies were Satoshi Nakamoto’s perspective to disrupt the inherent issues in traditional electronic payments. Over the years, these digital assets have continued to prove their mettle in facilitating electronic and cross-border payments without hassles. Apart from the threats of Quantum computers that can hack into accounts, there is also palpable fear about the 51% attack.
Breaking down the 51% Attack
It is worth mentioning that cryptographic currencies, which started with Bitcoin (BTC), are viable for electronic transactions. Banking on the blockchain technology, the belief is that these coins are free of external control. On the contrary, incidences of 51% “double-spending” attacks prove that these coins are not entirely free.
The attack implies that an “attacker” can make transactions with any of the cryptocurrencies and still “reclaim” the sent funds. This is possible when more CPU powers are within the attacker’s control. In such a case, the attacker has two options. He either mints new coins to defraud users or steal back the payments he earlier made.
What Chances do Bitcoin (BTC), Dash (DASH), and Monero (XMR) have?
Despite the palpable fear that dominates among many cryptocurrencies about the 51% “double-spending” attack, viable Proof-of-Work (PoW) coins, such as BTC, XMR, and DASH are not in the least bothered. Apart from the optimum security that PoW has over Proof-of-Stake (PoS), these coins also have individual security features that cushion the prospects of the attack.
For Bitcoin, many miners perform transactions over the network. This makes it impossible for an entity or combination of entities to raise the necessary hash power that can facilitate the 51% attack.
Monero already made tweaks to its Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm. This is a plan to improve the functionalities of the coin’s ASIC resistance. Apart from this, it makes regular updates to ensure the coin and the network is ASIC-resistant at all times.
Dash (DASH) is not taking the back seat in the face of these challenges. From its positioning as a PoW crypto coin, it will be hard for an attacker to gather the right amount of GPU to trigger the attack. If, on the contrary, an attacker was able to hire just enough GPU from the limited amount out there, it will be hard to initiate the attack. This is because the move will be recognized at the onset and nipped in the b
PoW Crypto Coins are Secure
There have been arguments on the prospect of Proof-of-Work coins and the advantage over the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) counterparts. It is worth noting that the former (PoW) consensus algorithm has better security features than the latter. On a lighter note, Bitcoin (BTC), Monero (XMR), and Dash (DASH) are the leading PoW crypto coins that have optimum security against the 51% attack.