What Is the Primary Economic Difference between PoW and PoS Security Models?

PoW security is based on energy consumption and hardware cost; attackers must spend real-world resources (electricity and ASICs) to gain control. PoS security is based on capital lockup; attackers must acquire and stake a majority of the coin's value, which is then at risk of being slashed.

PoW security is external and continuous; PoS security is internal and relies on the protocol's ability to punish bad actors.

What Are the Security Trade-Offs between PoW’S Energy Expenditure and PoS’s Capital-Locking?
How Does the Cost of a 51% Attack in PoS Scale Compared to the Cost in PoW?
How Does the ‘Economic Security’ of PoS Compare to PoW?
Compare the Capital Cost of a PoS Attack to the Energy Cost of a PoW Attack
How Does the Energy Consumption of PoA Compare to Pure PoW?
What Is the Concept of ‘Economic Finality’?
What Happens to the Funds That Are Slashed from a Validator’s Stake?
How Does the Energy Consumption of PoW and PoS Compare in the Context of Economic Security?

Glossar