Author: Multipool Admin 2015-12-28 19:33:11
Published on: 2015-12-28T19:33:11+00:00
In a conversation thread, Peter Todd and Multipool Admin discussed the possibility of making mining more decentralized. The idea was to allow anyone to submit proofs of work to Bitcoind that are some fraction of the network difficulty and receive payment for them if they're valid. This would encourage solo mining and increase the number of full nodes. To achieve this goal, the block assembler who finds the final diff/N 'share' could get a small bonus as an incentive to complete the block as quickly as possible. Alternatively, a checksum could be computed of all the current diff/N shares in the mempool and only the final share would need to be broadcasted to the entire network, which would decrease data usage on the network. Eligius already pays their miners like this.Regarding fixing mining issues, the selfish mining issue was discussed. It was stated that it is a much larger and more dangerous potential issue than other issues with mining. The possibility that a previously 'good' actor with 30% of the hashpower going 'rogue' becomes more and more of a concern as the block subsidy decreases. Large and small miners' profitability difference is also a worrying problem when selfish mining is possible. However, selfish mining attacks with hashing power aren't much of a concern if the block size is small enough that propagation time is negligible to profitability.Eligius had problems with block withholding, but it was never clearly established whether it suffered a block withholding attack or was just the victim of a miner with faulty hardware. Eligius is not the only pool to have had problems with block withholding, though it is the only one which has gone on record so far. There is no information about the incentive not to go on record about this.
Updated on: 2023-06-11T02:29:25.738212+00:00