How Does the Availability of Specialized Mining Hardware (ASICs) Affect the ‘Cost to Attack’ for a PoW Coin?

ASIC-mined coins generally have a higher 'cost to attack' than GPU-mined coins because the specialized hardware is less readily available for rent. However, if a coin uses a common ASIC algorithm, the cost to attack can still be low because a large amount of existing hardware can be easily redirected.

The limited supply and high capital cost of ASICs create a barrier to entry, but also a point of centralization.