Author: Justus Ranvier 2015-09-21 17:15:12
Published on: 2015-09-21T17:15:12+00:00
In an email conversation, Justus Ranvier criticized the definition of an honest miner and a malicious miner given by Rune K. Svendsen. According to Svendsen, an honest miner supports the network by building on top of the best valid chain, while a malicious miner wants to disrupt the Bitcoin network. However, Ranvier questioned what exactly constitutes the "best valid chain" and whether extending it with an empty block is always a malicious act. He also pointed out that calling a malicious miner one who wants to disrupt the network is tautological. Finally, Ranvier asked about the significance of 51% in the definition and whether the same empty block extended by a miner who has 49% hashing power would be considered honest.
Updated on: 2023-06-10T22:48:09.006575+00:00