Author: Jorge Timón 2015-05-13 23:46:04
Published on: 2015-05-13T23:46:04+00:00
In an email conversation, Alex Mizrahi discusses how a new node must have access to the globally strongest chain to prevent attackers from blocking connections to legitimate nodes. This is important as if an attacker can block connections, a new node will accept the attacker's chain without question. Mizrahi also mentions that proof of work (PoW) by itself doesn't provide strong security guarantees, and this problem is so fundamental that people avoid talking about it. However, he notes that Bitcoin already embraces "weak subjectivity" in the form of checkpoints embedded into the source code, which are just an optimization that can be removed. Mizrahi believes that Bitcoin should not rely on checkpoints for consensus, and you should only trust checkpoints buried in the chain. He also suggests that Bitcoin does not rely on weak subjectivity and purists who do so should not be taken seriously.
Updated on: 2023-06-09T20:44:26.134117+00:00