Author: Jameson Lopp 2015-02-24 14:54:17
Published on: 2015-02-24T14:54:17+00:00
Chris Page, a member of the Bitcoin-development mailing list, proposed an idea called Block Endorsement. The aim of the proposal is to improve security, increase the number of full nodes, and provide more avenues for bitcoin distribution. The proposal requires a new message and fits into current structures. The process involves mining a block, verifying the block, and a subset of nodes endorsing the block as valid. Miners would then add endorsements of the previous block to their coinbase transaction. For the purpose of best chain selection, a block with endorsements would get a significant bonus to its work (10%) for each valid endorsement included in its coinbase transaction. The proposal requires a change to the best chain selection algorithm to encourage miners to include endorsement payouts. With Block Endorsement, because of the extra weight given to a block that has endorsements, a sustained 51% attack becomes more expensive. A full node would have to maintain a list of recently broadcast endorsement messages for 100 blocks to prove the validity of the endorsements. Miners would share block rewards with endorsers using a defined formula which is to be determined. Endorsement rewards would be as much as 20% of the block reward and shared evenly between all endorsers included in the coinbase. The proposal provides a more accessible avenue for mining, and in turn, encourages bitcoin adoption. However, there are still some gaps and many different angles that require thought and scrutiny.
Updated on: 2023-06-09T18:03:31.246904+00:00