Part 4/9:
Breaking ECDSA signatures: This requirement hinges on the ability to manipulate digital signatures that authenticate transactions. While breaking ECDSA could theoretically jeopardize security, this feat has not yet been achieved, thus questioning the notion that hash power could mitigate this risk effectively.
Creating Merkle roots: These represent a consolidated hash of all transactions within the block. Falsifying a Merkle root would imply manipulating underlying data, which would conflict with the integrity maintained by blockchain protocols.
Proving work achieved through hash functions: This function reflects the actual proof-of-work mining aspect, where miners solve complex mathematical problems to validate and add blocks to the chain.