What Is ‘Hash Rate’ and Its Role in Proof-of-Work Security?

Hash rate is the total combined computational power being used to mine and process transactions on a Proof-of-Work (PoW) blockchain. It is measured in hashes per second.

A higher hash rate means the network is more secure because it requires an attacker to commit a proportionally larger amount of computational power to launch a 51 percent attack. It is the primary measure of a PoW network's resilience against malicious activity.