What Economic Factors Might Prevent a Selfish Miner from Reaching the 51% Threshold?
The primary economic factor is the escalating cost of acquiring and maintaining the necessary hashrate. As a miner approaches 51%, the market price of mining hardware and electricity in their area will likely rise due to their increased demand.
Furthermore, the risk of a community-led defensive hard fork, which would destroy the value of their specialized hardware, acts as a significant economic deterrent.
Glossar
Economic Factors
Macroeconomy ⎊ Economic factors represent the broad macroeconomic variables that influence market prices and investment decisions across financial markets.
Marginal Cost of Mining
Constraint ⎊ Marginal Cost of Mining, within cryptocurrency, represents the incremental expenditure required to validate the next block, encompassing electricity, hardware depreciation, and operational costs; it’s a dynamic value influenced by network difficulty and prevailing energy prices, directly impacting miner profitability and network security.
Selfish
Exploitation ⎊ In cryptocurrency derivatives and options trading, "selfish" denotes a strategic, albeit controversial, behavior primarily observed in Bitcoin mining.