Author: John Hardy 2017-03-20 21:29:29
Published on: 2017-03-20T21:29:29+00:00
The discussion on the bitcoin-dev mailing list centered around the definition of chain work, which currently refers to the expected number of sha256d evaluations necessary to build a chain. However, since these hash functions are not equally difficult, there arose a question regarding what the new definition of chain work should be. There were concerns about changing the economic incentives behind bitcoin mining and inadvertently creating an attack vector if 50-75% of the SHA256 hardware is taken offline and purchased by an entity who intends to cause harm to the network. Additionally, there was worry about miner centralization in Bitcoin, prompting John Hardy to propose implementing a Malicious miner Reactive Proof of Work Additions (MR POWA) as a hard fork activated in response to a malicious attempt by a hashpower majority to introduce a contentious hard fork. The idea was to introduce multiple new proofs of work that are already established and proven within existing altcoin implementations, such as Scrypt, Ethash, and Equihash, with diversification of hardware being positive for decentralization. This would mean 4 proofs of work with a 40-minute block target difficulty for each, and 50% hashing time would mean that the cost of electricity in relation to hardware would fall by 50%, reducing some of the centralizing impact of subsidized or inexpensive electricity in some regions over others. Such a hard fork could also introduce a block size increase and activate SegWit, while serving as a deterrent to any malicious actor trying to abuse their position, although it ideally would never activate.
Updated on: 2023-06-11T22:15:29.819998+00:00