Entries this day: why-a-dogecoin-51-attack-is-difficult

why a dogecoin 51 attack is difficult

(posted 12:12 Tuesday 04 February 2025 ACDT)

The Cost of a 51% Attack on Dogecoin (parody)

Why Do They Recommend 6 Confirmations for Dogecoin Transactions?

The recommendation for six confirmations in Dogecoin (and many other cryptocurrencies) is a security measure to ensure that a transaction is irreversible and secure from blockchain reorganization attacks. Here's what happens during those six confirmations:

1. Transaction Broadcast

• When you send a Dogecoin transaction, it is first broadcast to the network.
• Miners pick it up and attempt to include it in the next block.

2. First Confirmation (Mined in a Block)

• The transaction gets included in a **newly mined block**.
• At this point, the transaction has **one confirmation**, meaning it is officially recorded on the blockchain.
• However, this block could still be replaced if another miner finds a competing block with a longer valid chain.

3-6 Confirmations (Further Blocks Built on Top)

• Each additional block added to the chain **after the block containing your transaction** increases security.
• A deeper transaction (buried under more blocks) is **less likely to be reversed** due to the cost of performing a **51% attack** (reorganizing the chain).

Why Six Confirmations?

• **Dogecoin has a 1-minute block time**, so six confirmations typically take **about 6 minutes**.
• The reason for waiting for six blocks is to **guard against blockchain reorganizations** (where an attacker could try to rewrite history by mining an alternate chain).
• By the time six blocks have been added, an attacker would need significant computational power (over 51% of total network hash rate) to rewrite those blocks.

How Many Pentium Computers Would I Need to Take 51% of the Network?

Current Dogecoin Network Hashrate

• **Dogecoin's network hashrate is ~1.99 PH/s** (peta hashes per second).
• **51% of 1.99 PH/s = 1.015 PH/s**.

Hashrate of a Pentium CPU

• **Pentium Gold G5400 CPU @ 3.70GHz**: ~1,249 H/s (hashes per second).

Number of CPUs Needed

• **1 PH/s = 1,000,000,000,000 H/s**
• **1.015 PH/s = 1,015,000,000,000 H/s**
• **Required CPUs: 1,015,000,000,000 ÷ 1,249 ≈ 812,650,520 CPUs**

Physical Space Required

Each CPU setup (including cooling, PSU, and networking) requires ~0.2 m².

• **Total Space Needed: 812,650,520 × 0.2 m² = 162,530,104 m²**
• **Converted to acres: 40,168 acres (~63 square miles)**
• **Comparable to: 1.5× San Francisco or Disney World**

Power Consumption & Costs

• **Each Pentium CPU setup consumes ~150W**
• **Total Power Consumption: 812,650,520 × 150W = 121.9 GW**
• **Electricity Costs (@$0.10/kWh):**
• **Daily: $292.5 million**
• **Yearly: $107 billion**

Using ASIC Miners Instead

Instead of CPUs, let's use Bitmain Antminer L9 (16 GH/s, 3,360W).

• **ASIC Miners Needed: 63,438 units**
• **Total Power Consumption: 213.17 MW**
• **Physical Space Required: ~1.57 acres**
• **Electricity Cost: $186.7 million/year**
• **Hardware Cost: $634.38 million**

Comparison (Pentium vs. ASICs)

How Many Girl Scout Cookies Would We Need to Sell?

Total Cost to Launch Attack: $921.08 million

• **Profit per box: $4.00**
• **Boxes Needed: 230 million boxes**
• **Annual Girl Scout Sales: ~60 million boxes**
• **We'd need 3+ years of total cookie sales**

Final Thoughts

• **Attacking Dogecoin is nearly impossible.**
• **You'd need a land area larger than Disneyland for Pentium CPUs.**
• **Even with ASICs, it's a multi-billion dollar effort.**
• **Unless you can mobilize every Girl Scout in America for years, it's not happening!** 😂

Notes

• **This analysis was done by ChatGPT** —I just asked the questions!
• **All calculations and estimates were handled by AI.**
• **This was a fun exercise in understanding crypto security, mining costs, and logistics.**