Ethereum Developer Compares 51% Attack Costs on Bitcoin and Ethereum

A 51% attack on Bitcoin would cost approximately $10 billion, significantly less than the amount needed to compromise the Ethereum network. This was stated by leading Ethereum developer Justin Drake in an interview with Cointelegraph.

The figure he mentioned aligns closely with the estimate by Etherealize co-founder Grant Hammer, who calculated that $8 billion would suffice for a successful attack on the leading cryptocurrency.

1. Respectfully, BTC is completely screwed because of its security budget. It would only cost $8B to 51% attack BTC today. When this gets down to $2B (AKA, BTC’s security market cap becomes 0.1% of its asset market cap), a 51% attack is virtually certain to happen. This will…

— gphummer.eth ?? (@gphummer) May 14, 2025

“Respectfully, BTC is completely screwed because of its security budget,” he stated.

Hammer believes that when the cost of compromising Bitcoin falls to $2 billion, it is almost certain to happen.

“ETH is the only truly decentralized crypto asset that by consensus can become a store of value for the internet,” he asserts.

Drake noted that gaining control over the chain requires 50% of staked assets plus 1 ETH. While difficult and costly, it is theoretically possible for a wealthy nation, the developer acknowledged.

At the time of writing, the volume of locked coins stands at 34.16 million ETH, valued at approximately $85.4 billion.

Lightblocks founder and CEO Matan Sitbon highlighted an additional protective factor for Ethereum against such attacks—a “powerful mechanism of social and economic coordination within the community.”

Drake confirmed this advantage of the network over Bitcoin. According to him, it allows for “identifying the attacker and socially destroying them.”

“This is a superpower of Proof-of-Stake, unavailable in Proof-of-Work,” the developer emphasized.

CEO of the Bitcoin liquidity protocol Hassan Khan noted that debates about the feasibility of a 51% attack remain open only due to its theoretical possibility.

“In practice, the barriers are extremely high,” he stressed.

The centralization of control over the blockchain of the first cryptocurrency is unlikely due to the required computing power and electricity, while Ethereum faces additional economic and governance barriers, Khan added.

Earlier, Ethereum Foundation launched a “trillion-dollar security” initiative across the ecosystem.