Title: What (exactly) is required for a 51% attack? Post by: shmadz on April 27, 2013, 12:33:59 AM I've read a lot of speculation about the 51% attack but a recent bit of FUD made me reconsider.
For your consideration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2u3BNiANVA skip to around 3:40 for the juicy part. Basically he is saying that any entity with roughly 35% of the network could reasonably expect to be able to perform a 51% attack within 7-10 days... I thought this was nuts. no chance. so I went and checked the last 100 transactions at btc guild and boom, 6 blocks in a row (233302-233307 check it yourself) since you can currently spend bitcoin after 6 confirmations, does that mean that creating the last 6 blocks allows you to double-spend? what exactly is required to perform a "51%" attack? Title: Re: What (exactly) is required for a 51% attack? Post by: Rodyland on April 27, 2013, 12:52:17 AM Blocks in a row are irrelevant. To double spend you need to rewrite history . Which means mining ahead of the network, then spending, then releasing your mined blocks.
I am sure there is stuff about this on the wiki . Title: Re: What (exactly) is required for a 51% attack? Post by: BitcoinAshley on April 27, 2013, 01:15:59 AM This does not belong in "Speculation." Please move it to a more appropriate section of the forum. ;D Note that OPs can move their own topics.
Also, I'd recommend reading up on 51% attack in the wiki or the technical section of the forum. |