Published on: 2014-06-17T19:01:00+00:00
In a Bitcoin development mailing list post, Raúl Martínez proposes a protocol that allows miners to collect transactions by themselves and mine them individually, rather than relying on a pool sending the list of transactions to include in a block. This would prevent possible 51% attacks from pool owners. However, as pools are not part of the Bitcoin protocol, it is uncertain how this could be enforced or made widely used, especially since most miners do not care about transaction inclusion themselves and prefer just pointing hash power at a stratum server.The GHash.io pool controlling 51% of the hashrate is a concern for some in the Bitcoin community. An individual proposed a solution to stop this from happening again by creating a new mining protocol that does not rely on the pool sending the list of transactions to include in a block. Each individual miner would have to collect transactions by their own and mine them. This could be achieved by running a full node or by running a Simplified Payment Verification (SPV) like node that asks other nodes for transactions. Once this protocol is developed and standardized, the community could require all pools to use it, not by imposing it but by recommending it. Pool owners could send instructions using this protocol to miners about how many transactions to include per block, how many zero-fee transactions to include, how much is the minimum fee per kilobyte to include transactions and some information about the Coinbase field in the block.This way, it would be impossible to perform some of the possible 51% attacks. A pool owner can't mine a new chain (selfish mining), perform double spends or reverse transactions, or decide which transactions not to include. The only thing that a 51% pool owner can do is to shut down their pool and drop the hashrate by 51% because they do not control the miners.The proposal is valid if the pool owner does not own all the hardware in the pool, and if the pool clients use this protocol. However, most miners don't care and don't want to do the work to set it up. If someone figures out a way to make getblocktemplate (GBT) widely used (>50% hashpower), it would be a significant accomplishment.The proposal aims to create a mining protocol that does not rely on the pool sending the list of transactions to include in a block and requires individual miners to collect transactions by themselves. This can be achieved by running a full node or an SPV like a node that asks other nodes for transactions. The protocol will standardize, and all pools will have to use it, which will make it impossible to perform some of the possible 51% attacks. Pool owners could send instructions using this protocol to the miner about how many transactions to include, how many 0 fee transactions to include, the minimum fee per KB to include transactions, and some info about the Coinbase field in the block.It is also suggested that miners who join a pool should be treated as independent miners rather than slave miners. A pool owner cannot mine a new chain (selfish mining) or perform double-spends or reverse transactions. They cannot decide which transactions not to include but can configure the minimum fee. A pool owner cannot get all the rewards by avoiding other pools from mining blocks because the pool client knows the last block independently that is from his pool or other.The only thing that a 51% pool owner can do is shut down his pool and drop the hashrate by 51% because he does not control the miners. If the pool owner owns all the hardware in the pool, the proposal is not valid, and if the pool clients don't use this protocol, the idea is not valid. The proposal suggests creating a new mining protocol that does not rely on the pool sending the list of transactions to include in a block.In 2014, Raúl Martínez proposed a new mining protocol to prevent pools from controlling more than 51% of the hashrate. The protocol would require individual miners to collect transactions on their own instead of relying on the pool to send them. This could be achieved by running a full node or an SPV-like node that asks other nodes for transactions. Once developed and standardized, the community could recommend that all pools use this protocol. Pool owners could still send instructions to miners about how many transactions to include per block and other details about the Coinbase field in the block. However, this would make it impossible for a pool owner to perform certain 51% attacks, such as selfish mining or double spending. The proposal would only be invalid if the pool owner owns all the hardware in the pool, or if the pool clients don't use the new protocol.In June 2014, Raúl Martínez proposed a new mining protocol that could stop a pool from controlling more than 51% of the hashrate.
Updated on: 2023-08-01T09:35:08.265550+00:00