# The Attacker's Dilemma *If a greedy attacker is able to assemble more CPU power than all the honest nodes, he would have to choose between using it to defraud people by stealing back his payments or using it to generate new coins. He ought to find it more profitable to play by the rules, such rules that favour him with more new coins than everyone else combined, than to undermine the system and the validity of his own wealth.* Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin Whitepaper To successfully execute a double spend attack, an attacker must accumulate sufficient hash power to outpace more than half of the network's nodes. This requires not only **significant financial investment** but also the ongoing cost of maintaining that hash power. Additionally, any fraudulent activity would be conducted in full view of the public Bitcoin ledger, **making it easy for law enforcement and the broader community to identify and respond** to such actions. Ultimately, the **high costs associated with maintaining a malicious attack, coupled with the visibility of such actions**, create a powerful **disincentive for nodes to engage in dishonest behavior**. Instead, nodes are more likely to participate as honest actors, securing the network and earning legitimate rewards for their contributions. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://hub.bsvblockchain.org/higher-learning/bsv-academy/bitcoin-whitepaper-series/section-6-incentive-bitcoin-whitepaper/the-attackers-dilemma.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.