Research of the 51% attack based on blockchain

Abstract

With the explosion of Nakamoto’s paper, blockchain technology has developed rapidly, but at the same time, security problems are emerging one after another. As a potential security hazard in the payment field, 51% attack brings huge risks to the normal operation of the blockchain system. Miners with great computing power have the ability to monopolize the generation of blocks and modify the generated blocks. Therefore, it is necessary to do research of this kind of attacks. This article cites both Nakamoto model and Rosenfeld model to illustrate relationship between computing power and attack success rate. Through a series of mining experiments, this paper preliminarily introduces the operation principles of blockchain based on Ethereum, including proof of stake, smart contracts etc. Models show that for rational attackers who pursue interests, they lack the motivation to launch 51% attacks. For attackers who only destroy the bitcoin system, they need to master huge financial resources to launch 51% of attacks, and even need financial support at the national level, which is very difficult. It can be said that 51% attacks against bitcoin are only theoretically possible, but users still need to pay enough attention. As an emerging technology, blockchain technology is currently in the research and exploration stage. While it is applied in the financial field, it is also expanding to other fields. In the future, blockchain technology will not only be used to solve the trust and security problems in the centralized service architecture, but also appear in more decentralized service scenarios. So, the research on blockchain security is particularly important.