What Is the Economic Cost Associated with a Successful Double-Spend Attack?

The economic cost of a successful double-spend attack is multifaceted, impacting both the attacker and the network. For the attacker, the cost includes the initial investment in mining hardware (PoW) or staked capital (PoS), and the energy or opportunity cost of the attack.

For the network, the cost is a loss of trust, a potential crash in the coin's market price, and the devaluation of all network participants' holdings. The recipient of the fraudulent transaction suffers a direct financial loss.