Author: ZmnSCPxj 2022-02-24 12:49:00
Published on: 2022-02-24T12:49:00+00:00
In a recent discussion on the Bitcoin-dev mailing list, developer Paul Sztorc made a statement that it is easy for a 51% hashrate to double-spend in the Lightning Network (LN) by censoring "justice transactions." ZmnSCPxj, an expert developer of the LN, stated that Sztorc's statement is true. However, ZmnSCPxj raised important points about how a 51% miner can only attack LN channels it is a participant in and that Drivechain usage is less safe than LN usage because a 51% miner can steal all funds simultaneously from any sidechain. ZmnSCPxj also discussed whether a non-participant in a channel could somehow convince a 51% miner to help with an attack. He concluded that due to the time preference of all economically-rational actors, the honest participant always has the upper hand, even in a 51% miner scenario. The honest participant can offer fees right now while the attacker must wait out the `OP_CSV` delay before finalizing a theft. Additionally, there is no contract that Alice and a 51% miner can engage in to ensure that the miner will block the justice transaction, which itself does not require the miner to wait out the `OP_CSV` delay. Thus, the honest participant is always protected.Finally, ZmnSCPxj noted that in the presence of channel factories, the entire factory is at risk if at least one participant is the 51% miner or a sockpuppet thereof. Therefore, channel factories trade off even further scaling, at the cost of reduced protection against 51% miners.
Updated on: 2023-05-22T17:41:16.581425+00:00