delvingbitcoin

Second Look at Weak Blocks

Second Look at Weak Blocks

Original Postby mcelrath

Posted on: April 19, 2024 14:51 UTC

The discussion revolves around the differences between miner policies and nodes' mempool policies in blockchain technology, with a focus on how these disparities affect block relay.

The primary concern is that miners may opt to mine transactions out-of-band (OOB) which they would prefer not to broadcast due to policy discrepancies. This situation presents a challenge since the only reason for such a divergence would be the miners' inclination to include transactions that aren't currently being relayed, necessitating their involvement in the development process to integrate these preferences into the core system. The email argues against enabling miners to bypass peer review for their transaction ideas, as this could undermine the integrity of the relay policy framework, which is partly designed to protect against DDoS attacks.

The suggestion of incorporating Proof of Work (PoW) proofs on transactions as a method to facilitate safe relay and mitigate DDoS risks while accounting for low-fee or dust transactions is discussed. However, the feasibility of alternative, lighter-weight solutions than circulating entire blocks is contemplated. The discourse expands into potential issues with this approach, such as adversarial miners sniping these transactions to undercut competitors' revenue, though it's noted that payment to the original miner could still occur OOB.

Furthermore, the conversation explores game theoretical aspects and potential modifications to transaction propagation methods, like using a modified INV message containing a weak block header and Merkle proof for more efficient relay. This proposal aims to address concerns over bandwidth, latency, and packet loss without exacerbating them through heavy data exchange.

Finally, the email acknowledges the innovative thinking surrounding weak blocks and their fundamental role in both decentralized and centralized mining pools, highlighting the importance of continued exploration in this area to improve efficiency and security in blockchain technology.