Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum Should Be Prepared for a 51% Attack

Ethereum project co-founder Vitalik Buterin said that the ecosystem community should be better prepared for a hypothetical 51% attack. In his opinion, the network requires the development of an automated response to a potential hacker raid, writes The Block.

A 51% attack is a criminal operation against a blockchain or project where attackers gain control over more than half (51%) of the stakes or computing power of the network. This allows them to rewrite the history of transactions or prevent them from being completed, block the rewards of validators, and get double payment for tokens.

Buterin believes that Ethereum still has room to improve its defenses against such an attack. According to him, the biggest risks for the blockchain are related to the introduction of censorship on the network in the event of a successful attack by attackers.

The programmer sees the development of an automated response to any attack attempt as the best solution. According to him, counteractions must be clearly planned and thought out, while relying on effective software.

“We want the response to be as automated as possible. If you are a validator, your node should run software that automatically counteracts censorship in transactions when it detects it. That way, all the honest nodes will automatically, as a result of the code they run, coordinate with the same minority software,” Buterin said.

The co-founder of Ethereum believes that the project community should conduct research on methods of protection against 51% attacks. Taking into account the results obtained, it is necessary to make changes to the network, the developer is sure.

In February 2024, experts from Coin Metrics calculated how much a 51% attack on the Bitcoin and Ethereum network would cost potential attackers.

This analysis suggests that in the event of a Bitcoin raid, attackers would need to obtain a hashrate that could be provided by 7 million ASICs. Acquiring this amount of equipment would cost them $20 billion, analysts say.

An attack on the Ethereum network would cost even more for potential organizers. The cost of carrying out the operation in early 2024 exceeded $34 billion, the document says. In addition, the attackers need to simultaneously manage 200 nodes, which greatly complicates coordination of actions, the company representatives emphasized.

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Source: Cryptocurrency

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