Published on: 2022-02-27T00:42:22+00:00
In a recent email conversation between Paul and ZmnSCPxj, a quiz was presented to test one's understanding of Drivechain. The quiz included questions about the security model, withdrawal system, and potential drawbacks of Drivechain. It aimed to identify those who have a good knowledge of Drivechain. Some questions had alternative answers, while others were deemed incorrect or not fully answered.The quiz discussed various aspects of Drivechain, including the parameters "m" and "b" which represent how much people want to kill a sidechain and how much profit a mainchain miner expects from supporting a sidechain. It also touched on topics such as how m can be above one, how Drivechain is designed to deter sc-theft, and how the BTC network might become uncompetitive.ZmnSCPxj confirmed in a bitcoin-dev post that both Lightning Network (LN) and Drivechain are vulnerable to miner-theft, but they use their designs to deter theft. However, in LN, a 51% miner can only attack channels in which it is a participant, while in Drivechain, a 51% miner can simultaneously attack all sidechains and steal all funds. The main obstacle in LN is that the miner-coalition must join the channel, whereas in Drivechain, the main obstacle is constructing a transaction obeying the Bip300 rules, which are designed to thwart miner-theft.Paul Sztorc made a statement about a 51% hashrate being able to double-spend in LN by censoring "justice transactions," and ZmnSCPxj confirmed the truth in this statement. However, ZmnSCPxj pointed out that a 51% miner can only attack LN channels it is a participant in, whereas in Drivechain, a 51% miner can steal all funds from any sidechain simultaneously. ZmnSCPxj also discussed the possibility of a non-participant convincing a 51% miner to help with an attack, but concluded that the honest participant always has the upper hand due to time preference and the ability to offer fees immediately.ZmnSCPxj noted that in the presence of channel factories, the entire factory is at risk if at least one participant is a 51% miner or a sockpuppet. This trade-off in channel factories further scales but reduces protection against 51% miners.Overall, the quiz and discussion highlighted the intricacies of Drivechain's security model, withdrawal system, and potential vulnerabilities. It emphasized the importance of understanding these aspects to ensure the safety of funds in Drivechain.
Updated on: 2023-08-02T05:44:45.898087+00:00