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The consequences of a 51% attack are greatly overstated. A 51% attacker can prevent new transactions from confirming, and roll back recent transactions. They
by greyface- 4y ago
The consequences of a 51% attack are greatly overstated. A 51% attacker can prevent new transactions from confirming, and roll back recent transactions. They can't roll back transactions that happened (roughly) longer ago than the sustained duration of the attack. They can't mint extra coins, or double-spend arbitrarily old transactions. Under 51% conditions, you need to be more careful about accepting recently-confirmed payments, similar to 1 sat/vB transactions in a full mempool today. You can still transact, you just need to be patient and careful. The value will drop, yes, but it won't go to zero unless the attacker is able to sustain the attack indefinitely.
- pcthrowaway 4y agoJust the possibility of 51% attacks (if they occur 'occasionally') means people have to wait longer til they can consider transactions settled. Do they need to wait 4 hours instead of 1? 1 day? 3 days? 2 weeks? Whatever it is, it's materially significant. What does bitcoin do well now? What does it do better than other networks?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- dxhdr 4y ago> What does it do better than other networks? Provides you complete control over your money. You can send any amount to whoever you want, whenever you want, with no third parties capable of approving, disapproving, or delaying the transaction. Obviously, there are downsides to that. But that's what it does better.
- pcthrowaway 4y agoThat completely ignores the question. How does it do this better or differently than Ethereum, or Solana, or Avalanche, or Polygon.
- mr_woozy 4y ago[dead]