Author: Kenshiro [] 2019-08-01 10:17:56
Published on: 2019-08-01T10:17:56+00:00
The discussion revolves around the implementation of a moving checkpoint rule in the Bitcoin protocol and its potential limitations. The concern is raised that the rule should have some limits to allow the network to self-heal instead of relying on humans to detect splits or stop nodes. The suggestion is made that if two forks have a block height difference of 432 blocks (about 3 days) or more, then the moving checkpoint rule is ignored, allowing the network to self-heal in an automated way. This would prevent a history rewrite of more than 24 hours during a 51% attack for three days, giving enough time to change the protocol. However, it is pointed out that a netsplit cannot be detected but only suspected, making manual communication error-prone and centralizing. Stopping nodes during netsplits may also introduce several attack vectors. There is a concern that if a netsplit occurs and the rest of the world lacks the hashpower to assert itself as the proper branch, it may have to delete its local history, which is not a price worth paying to limit reorgs to 24 hours. Alistair Mann, one of the participants, is unconvinced that the moving checkpoint rule would improve Bitcoin.
Updated on: 2023-06-13T20:40:30.487892+00:00