Attacking the Chain

We consider the scenario of an attacker trying to generate an alternate chain faster than the honest chain.

- Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin Whitepaper

In this section we will look at the mathematics and practicality of executing a so-called 51% attack on the network. This takes place when a dishonest attacker creates an alternate chain which may contain transactions that misallocate funds or reject other valid actions accepted by the majority consensus.