What Is ‘Renting’ Hash Rate and Why Is It a Risk Factor?

Renting hash rate involves temporarily leasing mining power from a service provider, such as NiceHash, instead of owning the physical mining equipment. This significantly lowers the barrier to entry for a 51% attack on smaller coins, as an attacker does not need a massive upfront capital investment.

It is a major risk factor because an attack can be mounted quickly and relatively cheaply, making it a common vector for low-difficulty coin attacks.