Breaking Bitcoin at any Cost

Abstract

The security provisions of Bitcoin have been subjected to academic scrutiny since its conception in 2009. A number of research articles have investigated the security characteristics of the decentralized cryptocurrency. Due to the economic backdrop of the cryptocurrencies, numerous of these articles assume a rationale attacker with the scheme to maximize the profit. This conjecture omits the possibility of an irrational attacker with the purpose of hazarding (breaking) the cryptocurrency irrespective of the cost. This chapter presents various novel (theoretical) attack vectors that an irrational attacker may exploit to jeopardize the bitcoin network. The chapter theorizes attacks on four facets: Consensus layer attacks, Network layer attacks, Protocol layer attacks, and Economic attacks. By modelling an irrational attacker, we can investigate the plausibility of a potential large scale organizational or governmental attack on the Bitcoin network.