Immutability in Doubt: Do We Need to Protect Blockchain Data?

The new law in Michigan seems to be aimed, rather, at protecting the network from so-called "51 percent attacks", which have become a serious problem for the entire crypto community in 2018.Blockchain data immutabilityThe word "Immutable" is heard frequently when people speak about blockchain.

At the moment, the reliability of each block in the Bitcoin blockchain is confirmed by over 9,000 nodes, with the number of blocks in the network now surpassing 500,000.

To protect data in blockchain, the author of the record creates an access key.

Now, as the notion of the immutability of blockchain data has been formalized more or less clearly, the question still remains: If it's impossible to make a change in the blocks, why do we need the Michigan state law?

"51 person attack" - blockchain's main foeReturning to the idea of "a majority rule," if an attacker or a group of intruders are able to get 51 percent of a network's mining hash rate in their hands, they can pretty much do as they please with the world of data within - from altering blocks to manipulating transactions.

Taking into consideration that a large amount of money is necessary to possess the network hash rate, it is more rational to deploy a new system and give rewards to other miners for maintaining it, rather than to use resources for hacking the existing blockchain.

"Pigs can't fly. This is an absolute truth that we all know and agree on. But, given a phenomenally strong wind, pigs can fly. Nothing digital - including blockchain - is entirely immutable. But blockchain is a massive, distributed digital ledger which is as good as it gets for electronic storage."

Blockchain is attacked around the worldThe more cryptocurrencies created on third-party blockchains and the more hard forks of the original networks appear, the easier it is for hackers to concentrate 51 percent of the network's total hash rate in their hands.

All this makes Michigan's initiative - introduced by the state legislature on June 12 in order to protect any records on blockchain against altering, forging, or counterfeiting - look very timely.

Blockchain is no exceptionThe potential of blockchain as a technology cannot be underestimated.