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Recently, 51% of attacks gained some media attention due to recent double-spending attacks on the Ethereum Classic network. This could turn into a growing trend like many altcoins are susceptible to this type of attack.
While most of the recent coverage focused on security issues presented by the 51% attacks, the creator of Litecoin, Charlie Lee, stressed that the possibility of being attacked at 51% is actually a sign of decentralization.
https://twitter.com/SatoshiLite/status/1082491687169998848
Without mining without permission, a cryptocurrency is relatively centralized
For the most part, cryptocurrencies use consenting algorithms without authorization like proof-of-work, which allows anyone to participate in the prevention process the double spends. However, some projects, such as EOS and Ripple, are based on parts that are identifiable by consensus. According to Lee, this limits the level of decentralization that can be achieved by these networks.
"Being decentralized, it is without permission" Lee explained to Laura Shin a recent episode of her unconfirmed podcast. "Everyone should be able to get together, and for work trial coins, anyone should be able to buy any GPU or ASIC and take out the coin – or even just use the computer." Anyone can take out the coin and help protect it. the network. "
Due to the fact that anyone is able to participate in the process of extraction, the network is susceptible to 51% attacks because there is nothing that prevents someone from obtaining most of the hashrate of the network (in the case of proof of work). This does not mean that it would necessarily make sense to conduct such an attack, only that there is a risk of attack.
Identifiable parts
Cryptocurrencies could eliminate the risk of attacks by 51% by entrusting specific parties to be involved in the consensus process, but this means that none of the participants could be anonymous (opens the banal system Sybil attacks), which illustrates the reasoning behind Satoshi Nakamoto's decision to use the job proof for Bitcoin in the first place.
If an integral part of the system is managed by identifiable parts, then it is much easier to control or close. At that point, it is not clear why it is necessary to create a new cryptocurrency network.
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