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Bitcoin ($BTC), the largest cryptocurrency, is often criticized for the lack of economic incentives behind its security model. Ethereum Foundation's Justin Drake, who ironically changed his X bio to "Bitcoin security researcher," is sure that even a rally to $10 million per $BTC will not make things better — and proposes his eccentric solutions.
Bitcoin ($BTC) will be too cheap to attack soon, EF researcher says
Bitcoin's ($BTC) security model for its proof of work is permanently in danger — and things are only getting worse. Now, Bitcoin ($BTC) fees have hit a 13-year low (30d average, $BTC-denominated) which brings network security one step closer to being irrational economically.
The security of Bitcoin PoW is a ticking time bomb.
— Justin Drake (@drakefjustin) May 29, 2025
Bitcoin fees are at a 13-year low—less than 10 $BTC/day. Despite 2016, 2020, 2024 halvings, miner revenue from fees is at a 9-year low—just 1%.
low fees → low security budget → low security
Bitcoin's security model is… pic.twitter.com/tAnP0tEt3Q
Such calculations were shared by Justin Drake, researcher at Ethereum Foundation. He also stresses that only 1% of fees contribute to $BTC's security budget.
As such, since Coinbase miner rewards lose 50% every four years, Bitcoin ($BTC) is too vulnerable to 51% attacks in terms of economic reasons.
Namely, even if the Bitcoin ($BTC) price hits $10 million per coin, $20 billion will be enough to run permanent 51% attacks on the network.
L2 solutions and BitVM options cannot help here since they are also vulnerable to 51% attacks and can only trigger short-lived fee spikes.
Bitcoin's ($BTC) security problem has only two solutions
Drake proposes only two steps to protect the security of the Bitcoin ($BTC) network. First, it should implement tail issuance, dropping the 21-million-coin limit. It will allow the network to increase economic motivation for network participants to keep it secure.
Also, Bitcoin ($BTC) can migrate to proof of stake (PoS) and completely rewrite its security design by $BTC staking for network operators.
As covered by U.Today previously, Cyber Capital CIO Justin Bons is another adamant critic of Bitcoin ($BTC) security.
It foresees that Bitcoin ($BTC) will be vulnerable to attacks described by Justin Drake as soon as in the next four-year cycle.