Author: Alan Reiner 2012-05-25 13:44:34
Published on: 2012-05-25T13:44:34+00:00
The discussion revolves around the concept of a proof-of-work test that would require miners to provide a random old transaction as opposed to CPU work. The idea is that if miners store the entire blockchain, they should have no problem answering the getdata request, whereas a botnet would need to ask someone else for it, which could be detected if the response time deviates too much from what has been previously measured. However, some argue that any solution based on node queries will not succeed, especially if it requires spontaneous super-majority-of-nodes acceptance. Instead, it is suggested that the solution must be based on the block itself and each node's own information. At present, the concept only works if every node connected to the miner enforces the rule. If one node forwards the block, then other nodes see it coming from a node that can pass the challenge. Another point raised in the discussion is that if all miners agreed not to build off antisocial blocks, there is a chance it could make a difference. However, individual miners would have an advantage building off the antisocial block because they only need to produce one to create the longest chain and collect a reward while miners following the rules need two blocks.
Updated on: 2023-06-06T04:39:36.198241+00:00