By Solomon OdunayoAccording to Crypto51.app, the cost of Attacking Bitcoin (BTC), the first and largest cryptocurrency, is now 140x costlier than the cost required to attack Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
Bitcoin Cash (BCH), the fifth-largest digital currency by market capitalization, recently experienced its first-ever block reward halving.
As soon as block 630,000 of the network was mined, the number of coins issued for miners was reduced by half from 12.5 per block to 6.25, which resulted in BCH miners abandoning the network.
The fact that the miners faced the loss of 50% of their revenue after the Bitcoin Cash’s halving, forced them to run on tight margins to turn off their machines or ply their mining trade on other networks, such as Bitcoin.
51% Attack on Bitcoin (BTC) Is Now Over 140x More Costly Than Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
According to data from Crypto51.app, a channel that tracks the cost of perpetrating a 51% attack on a blockchain to falsify certain transactions, the cost to enact attack on Bitcoin Cash (BCH) for one hour is relatively $4,250, which is equivalent to about 16.5 BCH at press time.
At the same time, Crypto51.app estimated the cost required to enact a 51% attack on the Bitcoin network, and comes out with $620,000, which implies about 14,400% higher, or better still, over 140x costlier than Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
How Crypto51.app Obtained the Data
Crypto51.app derives this data by calculating the cost needed to acquire enough mining power to control 51% of a particular network. This is technically based on the cost of acquiring computational power via NiceHash.
However, NiceHash cannot singlehandedly gain access to enough machines to process the large requests needed to effect a temporary takeover of a leading blockchain, but the website only quantifies the level of security of a network.
What 51% Attack Implies
Using a 51% attack, attackers can successfully take over a blockchain network, giving them free will to reverse certain transactions.
A cryptocurrency exchange that accepts the digital token of a blockchain that has been subjected to a 51% attack could face huge losses, as the attacker could send digital tokens to a platform to get credit, only to subsequently reverse the transfer, making such as an exchange experience double losses.