After the multimillion dollar Bitcoin Gold 51% attack a few weeks ago, I was curious what an attack like this costs against other currencies. I calculated the cost of renting hashing power from NiceHash to complete an attack.
I found it surprising that it is possible to rent enough hashing power for many of the smaller currencies, which makes me question the use of PoW for smaller coins.
Please note that the attack costs do not include the money you earn in the form of block rewards, so in many cases the costs will actually be substantially lower.
I found it surprising that it is possible to rent enough hashing power for many of the smaller currencies, which makes me question the use of PoW for smaller coins.
Please note that the attack costs do not include the money you earn in the form of block rewards, so in many cases the costs will actually be substantially lower.