Does the Type of Mining Algorithm (E.g. SHA-256 Vs Scrypt) Affect the Cost of a 51 Percent Attack? ⎊ Path

Does the Type of Mining Algorithm (E.g. SHA-256 Vs Scrypt) Affect the Cost of a 51 Percent Attack?

Yes, the mining algorithm significantly affects the attack cost due to the availability of specialized hardware. Algorithms like SHA-256 (used by Bitcoin) have highly optimized ASIC miners, making the hashrate extremely concentrated and expensive to acquire.

Algorithms designed for general-purpose hardware (like GPUs or CPUs) have a more dispersed hashrate, which is often cheaper to rent in large quantities. The algorithm determines the efficiency of the available hardware, directly impacting the economic barrier to attack.

Why Is Acquiring 51% of Staked Tokens Generally Harder than Renting 51% of Hashrate?

Has a SHA-256 Collision Ever Been Found?

What Is the Concept of ‘ASIC Resistance’ in Cryptocurrency Algorithms?

How Can a Miner Switch between Different Cryptocurrencies Using the Same GPU Hardware?

What Was the Transition from CPU to GPU to ASIC Mining?

How Does the Availability of Specialized ASIC Miners Affect the Cost of a 51% Attack?

What Is the Significance of a “Memory-Hard” Algorithm in Resisting ASIC Development?

How Does the ‘Proof-of-Work’ Consensus Mechanism Relate to SHA-256?