On the security of softforks



Summary:

In a Bitcoin-dev discussion, Jonathan Toomim shared a scenario of how Mallory could defraud Bob by creating an invalid SegWit transaction that Bob cannot properly validate. Clueless Carol, a miner who forgot to upgrade her mining node, includes both transactions in her block, and Mallory ends up getting free beer. However, the discussion also points out that 0-conf and 1-conf transactions are not safe and that this scenario is just a variation of the Finney attack. This highlights the importance of upgrading mining nodes and the potential risks associated with unconfirmed transactions.


Updated on: 2023-06-11T02:21:20.645944+00:00