TechFlow, Oct 10 — According to Wall Street Insights, recent research shows the threat of a "51% attack" on Bitcoin has been severely underestimated by the market, with attackers needing only about $6 billion to destroy Bitcoin. Duke University finance professor Campbell Harvey warned in a new study that although both Bitcoin and gold are favored in "currency devaluation trades," the risks facing Bitcoin far exceed those of gold.
An attacker could gain control of the Bitcoin network within a week by spending $4.6 billion on hardware, investing $1.34 billion to build data centers, and paying approximately $130 million per week for electricity. By shorting Bitcoin through derivatives markets, attackers could reap massive profits when Bitcoin's price crashes, enough to cover the cost of the attack. However, Matt Prusak, president of a U.S.-based Bitcoin company, believes such concerns are overstated, as accumulating and deploying mining equipment would take years, short positions require substantial collateral, and exchanges might halt suspicious trading.
