Published on: 2021-09-13T08:03:42+00:00
The issue of a malicious miner cheating other miners of their reward is discussed in the context. The problem arises as the bitcoin block is used as the sentinel to mark the shares from DAG that need to be rewarded. A proposed solution is to have the hub broadcast a "sentinel" to mark out the point in logical time up to which shares will be rewarded.A proposal is made to reward miners for creating valid blocks, but concerns are raised about rogue miners avoiding referencing other miners' shares to keep rewards for themselves. Two methods are suggested for resolving conflicts between conflicting versions of the DAG: using the longest chain or the one with more work. However, both methods present issues such as the potential for bad hashers to create low-difficulty shares and then mine and publish higher-difficulty shares without sharing the reward.In an email exchange, questions are raised about the proposal that every share can reference multiple previous shares. Concerns are expressed about rogue miners not referencing any shares from other miners to avoid sharing the reward. Doubts are also raised about how conflicts between different valid states will be resolved.A discussion on the Bitcoin-dev mailing list focuses on the centralization of Braidpool's payout server, which is seen as a single point of failure. Suggestions are made to use multiple hubs to reduce the risk of a single point of failure. One idea presented is a Lightning model where multiple hubs offer liquidity to the network, and the winning hasher elects one of the hubs to receive the payout. It is acknowledged that getting something working now may be more beneficial than waiting for a perfect solution.ZmnSCPxj points out that Braidpool's payout server remains a single central point of failure despite claims of using Tor hidden service to protect against DDoS attacks. Multiple hubs are suggested as a preferable solution, with Chris Belcher's proposal for using payment channels mentioned as a potential construction for multiple hubs. It is acknowledged that more ideas for decentralization may emerge as Braidpool is built.The benefits of Stratum v2 and its comparison to other mining methods are discussed. It is noted that mining pools still have the ability to reject negotiations and censor payments. Suggestions are made to use Stratum v2 in combination with other technologies, such as discreet log contracts.Braidpool is viewed as an improvement to P2Pool in making a peer-to-peer pool work on a larger scale. It offers transparent views of shares received by the pool, allowing miners to verify reward calculations. It also offers payouts over a one-way channel, unlike P2Pool. Braidpool prepares for future attacks on centralized mining pools while attracting miners to the platform now.In a discussion on centralized mining control and payment censorship, concerns are raised about the control of transaction selection and potential censorship. The use of Lightning Network (LN) for payouts is suggested as a way to mitigate these issues, but the advantages of Braidpool over an idealized version of centralized mining with independent transaction selection are questioned.A comparison is made between a decentralized mining pool using BetterHash or Stratum v2 with LN-based payouts and a centralized mining pool. The advantages of a decentralized pool are highlighted, including the ability for miners to choose their own transactions and prevent any single entity from having control over the selection process.Pool2win proposes a decentralized solution to the problems faced by P2Pool. The proposal aims to provide lower variance for smaller miners and enable a futures market for hash rates. The solution uses a DAG of shares replicated at all miners to compute rewards, with payouts made via one-way payment channels by an anonymous hub communicating through Tor's hidden services. Comparisons to Stratum v2 are not provided.The Pool2Win team develops Braidpool, a decentralized mining pool aimed at overcoming issues faced by P2Pool and enabling a futures market for hash rates. The pool offers lower variance for smaller miners, allows miners to build their own blocks, and provides transparent views of shares received by the pool. Rewards are paid out via one-way payment channels using Tor's hidden services to prevent cheating. The team also provides details on trading hash rate. The ultimate goal is to provide a more efficient and fair mining experience while contributing to Bitcoin's decentralization.
Updated on: 2023-08-02T04:38:29.528678+00:00