Author: Ittay 2015-11-06 20:48:08
Published on: 2015-11-06T20:48:08+00:00
The email conversation is discussing a potential issue with the use of microblocks in the NG protocol. The problem arises when there is a double spend in a micro block that happens in a key block which reorganizes away the first transaction, and there is no way to punish those involved. It is suggested that wait times need to be longer than network propagation delay to mitigate this issue. Additionally, an attacker can continuously double spend by immediately mining a key block after sending a transaction and then creating a microblock that double-spends the previous transaction. The confirmation time for microblocks may not need to be a full key-block but should be a reasonable period after which such an attacker would lose more fees than the value of their double-spend. The email also discusses the difficulty in analyzing the game theory behind this issue and formalizing the attacker's incentive structure.
Updated on: 2023-06-11T00:15:17.486399+00:00