Are Proof of Stake Networks Also Vulnerable to Majority Attacks?
Yes, Proof of Stake (PoS) networks are vulnerable to majority attacks, but they manifest differently than in PoW. In PoS, an attacker would need to acquire a majority of the network's staked cryptocurrency, which could be 51% or in some cases as low as 34%, to control validation.
However, acquiring such a large stake would be incredibly expensive, and the attacker's own holdings would be at risk of being "slashed" (destroyed) as a penalty for malicious behavior. This economic disincentive is the primary defense against such attacks.
Glossar
Proof of Stake (PoS)
Mechanism ⎊ Proof of Stake (PoS) is a consensus mechanism used by blockchains to achieve distributed agreement on the state of the ledger.
Proof of Stake
Principle ⎊ Proof of Stake, or PoS, is a class of consensus mechanism where network participants, known as validators, secure the blockchain and validate new transactions by committing or "staking" a certain amount of the network's native cryptocurrency.
Liquid Staking Derivatives Impact
Derivatives ⎊ Liquid staking derivatives (LSDs) represent a novel intersection of decentralized finance (DeFi) and traditional financial instruments, enabling users to obtain derivative tokens representing staked cryptocurrency assets.
Majority
Consensus ⎊ Majority, within decentralized systems, denotes the agreement threshold required to validate transactions or state changes on a blockchain, influencing network security and operational efficiency.