Author: Gregory Maxwell 2013-11-04 15:58:15
Published on: 2013-11-04T15:58:15+00:00
In an email exchange, Michael Gronager suggested a simple and elegant solution to address the identified problem regarding probability in blockchain mining. However, this suggestion was refuted by others who believed that it would create a weaker form of vulnerability at all times, not just when the attacker has an informational or positional advantage. Delaying blocks usually has negative expectations because miners extend the first seen blocks, which can lead to orphaned blocks. But if a miner positions themselves all over the network, they can condition their announcements on other blocks being announced and still win the race even if they delayed. Eliminating the "first seen" rule means that a miner with enough hashpower could execute this attack without positioning themselves all over the network. The largest pool would gain an advantage in delaying their blocks and would receive a superlinear share of mining income from doing so, something they cannot do today without attacking the network. As a result, it is not a simple correction of an error but rather a change that would have significant implications. It was suggested that propagation advantage could be improved without making these changes, and it should be done first while carefully considering the potential risks and challenges. Simply relaying late blocks might be fine, although there are concerns about bandwidth overhead and the risk of flooding if it isn't implemented carefully. Therefore, more thought and analysis is required before implementing any changes to the current system.
Updated on: 2023-05-19T17:39:56.940425+00:00