Author: justusranvier at riseup.net 2015-06-19 15:53:01
Published on: 2015-06-19T15:53:01+00:00
Eric Lombrozo, a Bitcoin developer, warns that relaxing the assumption that the Bitcoin network can withstand deliberate double-spend attacks could result in terrible security practice. He suggests that it's dangerous to assume that security measures are safe because they have never been hacked before. Lombrozo notes that the protocol itself doesn't make assumptions regarding the intention of someone signing two conflicting transactions and that there are many potential use cases for doing so. While he agrees that there are valid reasons for replacing transactions in the mempool, he believes that these should be implemented in a way that doesn't facilitate fraud. Lombrozo also points out that "prima facie" doesn't mean "always," but rather that it is the default assumption unless proven otherwise. Lombrozo argues that miners must still intervene in cases of human misbehavior, even if the signed transaction itself is proof of intention to pay. He suggests that a payment processor should inform merchants of relevant double spends it observes on the network, even if the payment is successful, so that the merchant can decide for themselves whether or not to pursue it out of band.
Updated on: 2023-06-09T23:47:51.017759+00:00