• Latest
A Solution to Crypto’s 51% Attack? Fine Miners Before It Happens

A Solution to Crypto’s 51% Attack? Fine Miners Before It Happens

October 10, 2018
ygg sea surpasses 10,000 scholarships in just six months of launch

YGG SEA Surpasses 10,000 Scholarships in Just Six Months of Launch

May 6, 2022
mintable launches industry changing gas free minting service on ethereum

Mintable Launches Industry Changing Gas Free Minting Service on Ethereum

May 1, 2022
5 projects enabling smart contract development on bitcoin

5 Projects Enabling Smart Contract Development on Bitcoin

April 29, 2022
bitcoin atm installed in mexico's senate building

Bitcoin ATM installed in Mexico’s Senate Building

April 27, 2022
cross chain services play a crucial role in facilitating continued adoption of defi applications

Cross-Chain Services Play a Crucial Role in Facilitating Continued Adoption of DeFi Applications

April 26, 2022
justin sun launches usdd, integrating the blockchain world and the real world with the decentralized stablecoin

Justin Sun Launches USDD, Integrating the Blockchain World and the Real World with the Decentralized Stablecoin

April 25, 2022
nfts: the next musical revolution

NFTs: The Next Musical Revolution

April 24, 2022
things you should know before investing in nfts

Things You Should Know Before Investing in NFTs

April 24, 2022
what are wrapped tokens?

What Are Wrapped Tokens?

April 23, 2022
what is the future of ethereum (eth)?

What is the future of Ethereum (ETH)?

April 22, 2022
green gaming

Everything You Need to Know About Play-to-Earn on Algorand in 2022

April 21, 2022
$ape going bananas as rumors of upcoming land sale of bayc metaverse gather momentum

$APE Going Bananas As Rumors of Upcoming Land Sale of BAYC Metaverse Gather Momentum

April 21, 2022
  • Home
  • Coin Market Cap
  • Bitcoin
  • Ethereum
  • Ripple
  • Litecoin
  • Alt Coin
  • Business
  • Trading
  • Mining
CoinNewsDaily
  • Home
  • Coin Market Cap
  • Bitcoin
  • Ethereum
  • Ripple
  • Litecoin
  • Alt Coin
  • Business
  • Trading
  • Mining
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Coin Market Cap
  • Bitcoin
  • Ethereum
  • Ripple
  • Litecoin
  • Alt Coin
  • Business
  • Trading
  • Mining
No Result
View All Result
CoinNewsDaily
No Result
View All Result
Home Tech

A Solution to Crypto’s 51% Attack? Fine Miners Before It Happens

coinnewsdaily by coinnewsdaily
October 10, 2018
in Tech
0
A Solution to Crypto’s 51% Attack? Fine Miners Before It Happens
191
SHARES
1.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Related articles

ygg sea surpasses 10,000 scholarships in just six months of launch

YGG SEA Surpasses 10,000 Scholarships in Just Six Months of Launch

May 6, 2022
5 projects enabling smart contract development on bitcoin

5 Projects Enabling Smart Contract Development on Bitcoin

April 29, 2022

One of crypto’s most feared attacks may have an elegant solution.

At least, that’s according to the team behind cryptocurrency project Horizen – formerly zencash – which saw more than $500,000 hacked from an exchange in such an attack, called a 51 percent attack, earlier this year.

This attack happens when one single malicious miner controls more than 51 percent of the compute power on a blockchain network and can then inject false transactions into the system.

In a paper released today, the Horizen team claim to have found an innovative solution – by updating their proof-of-work consensus algorithm with a so-called “delay function” that penalizes miners that could be preparing for such an attack. Horizen is a fork of privacy-oriented crypto zcash, which is itself a fork of bitcoin.

Because a 51 percent attack requires a miner to produce blocks in secret before posting them to the blockchain, co-founder of Horizen Rob Viglione said a delay function allows for penalties that make such attacks prohibitively expensive.

“So what it does is essentially it poses a massive cost, a 10x cost, on trying to launch one of these attacks,” he told CoinDesk.

Stepping back, the 51 percent attack has been a part of many crypto enthusiast’s awareness this year, after five major cryptocurrencies lost money due to the attack in June.

Because they damage the confidence in the security of cryptocurrencies more broadly, Viglione described such attacks as a “negative externality on the entire industry.”

And with direct insight into the attack – the 51 percent attack on Horizen resulted in 36 fake blocks being included in the blockchain – Viglione said:

“Right after the attack our engineers started brainstorming and we think we have a very elegant, simple solution to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”

He continued, “Technically, to make it costly if it were ever to happen again.”

The penalties

To do this, Horizen’s new algorithm introduces penalties for delayed blocks – those that are broadcast to the network a long time after the latest block.

In effect, the new code release modifies a feature of the underlying consensus algorithm, the so-called “longest chain rule,” with a delay function.

For example, if a block is proposed that is 5 blocks or more behind the most recent, a penalty is introduced, Viglione said. That quadratically increases the amount of blocks a miner needs to produce in order to have transactions accepted onto the chain, he continued.

As such, the chances of a 51 percent attack are decreased.

And because of the nature of Horizen’s architecture, such a penalty should only occur if the miner is malicious, Viglione said.

“We have an average block find time of 2 and a half minutes, maximum latency to broadcast anywhere in the world is like one or two seconds, so there’s no way you could be 5 blocks behind legitimately,” he explained.

This though, Viglione noted, could cause a network partition to occur on the blockchain, as multiple chains of blocks compete to be recognized as the honest chain. In this case, Viglione said miners will vote to determine which chain is legit.

“They essentially elect which chain is legitimate and they start mining on that just like they would any longest chain rule,” Viglione said.

Additionally, to prevent such network splits from being permanent, Viglione said that penalties decrease on the accepted chain.

“Blocks are added and there’s a negative one decrement to the penalty that was previously assessed, so there’s always a convergence that can happen to prevent the network partition being permanent,” he told CoinDesk.

An age old question

Accompanying the release, a white paper states that should a chain of blocks be rejected due to being too far behind the most recent block, exchanges can freeze suspicious deposits until the situation is resolved.

Additionally, Viglione said the specifics of the penalties can be tweaked depending on network conditions.

“We can tune and dial up the cost if we ever think it’s insufficient relative to hashrates and all that,” he told CoinDesk.

Still, it’s worth noting that such changes have long been the subject of research, and others are skeptical about whether Horizen can achieve its claims.

For example, leading ethereum proof-of-stake researcher Vlad Zamfir noted that while he had yet to dig into Horizen’s new code, “the design space doesn’t include miracles.”

Additionally, consensus researcher Emin Gur Sirer expressed skepticism, telling CoinDesk, “these protocols are subtle and difficult to get right.”

But, following several months of testing, Viglione is confident that the new algorithm works well in practice, and hopes it can set an example for the broader cryptocurrency industry.

“We’ve been testing it internally for a little while now, a couple of months, so we’re pretty confident with the code,” Viglione said, adding:

“I’d imagine that other projects should, they really should update their code as well.”

EDIT (16.20 UTC October 10 2018): This article has been updated to reflect that the victim of Horizen’s June 51 percent attack was a cryptocurrency exchange, not Horizen itself.

Cut wire image via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

 

Tags: consensus algorithmconsensus researcherCrypto TechRob Viglionesingle malicious miner
Share76Tweet48
Previous Post

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Stellar, Litecoin, Cardano, Monero, TRON: Price Analysis, October 10

Next Post

Crypto Hedge Fund Launches Are Soaring to Record Levels This Year

coinnewsdaily

coinnewsdaily

CoinNewsDaily.com is an online Crypto Coin News Website that aims to provide latest trendy news from market and around the world.

Related Posts

ygg sea surpasses 10,000 scholarships in just six months of launch
Alt Coin

YGG SEA Surpasses 10,000 Scholarships in Just Six Months of Launch

May 6, 2022
5 projects enabling smart contract development on bitcoin
Alt Coin

5 Projects Enabling Smart Contract Development on Bitcoin

April 29, 2022
bitcoin atm installed in mexico's senate building
Bitcoin

Bitcoin ATM installed in Mexico’s Senate Building

April 27, 2022
cross chain services play a crucial role in facilitating continued adoption of defi applications
Alt Coin

Cross-Chain Services Play a Crucial Role in Facilitating Continued Adoption of DeFi Applications

April 26, 2022
green gaming
Business

Everything You Need to Know About Play-to-Earn on Algorand in 2022

April 21, 2022
axie infinity: what are the minimum android phone requirements to play on mobile
Alt Coin

Axie Infinity: What Are the Minimum Android Phone Requirements to Play on Mobile

April 21, 2022
Load More
Next Post
Crypto Hedge Fund Launches Are Soaring to Record Levels This Year

Crypto Hedge Fund Launches Are Soaring to Record Levels This Year

Categories

  • Alt Coin
  • Bitcoin
  • Business
  • Ethereum
  • ICO
  • Litecoin
  • Mining
  • NFT
  • Ripple
  • Tech
  • Trading

What New here?

  • YGG SEA Surpasses 10,000 Scholarships in Just Six Months of Launch
  • Mintable Launches Industry Changing Gas Free Minting Service on Ethereum
  • 5 Projects Enabling Smart Contract Development on Bitcoin

Subscribe to Get More!

Loading
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy & Policy

© 2018-2021 CoinNewsDaily.com by CoinNewsDaily Inc. Crafted with Love by iFtiDev

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Coin Market Cap
  • Bitcoin
  • Ethereum
  • Ripple
  • Litecoin
  • Alt Coin
  • Business
  • Trading
  • Mining

© 2018-2021 CoinNewsDaily.com by CoinNewsDaily Inc. Crafted with Love by iFtiDev

  • bitcoinBitcoin(BTC)$22,869.00-2.26%
  • ethereumEthereum(ETH)$1,632.00-2.30%
  • tetherTether(USDT)$1.00-0.02%
  • binancecoinBNB(BNB)$325.53-3.06%
  • rippleXRP(XRP)$0.398922-3.07%
  • cardanoCardano(ADA)$0.393617-1.90%
  • dogecoinDogecoin(DOGE)$0.092447-4.04%
  • okbOKB(OKB)$44.531.50%
  • matic-networkPolygon(MATIC)$1.20-3.58%
  • solanaSolana(SOL)$23.31-4.45%
  • shiba-inuShiba Inu(SHIB)$0.000014-4.50%
  • polkadotPolkadot(DOT)$6.72-2.10%
  • litecoinLitecoin(LTC)$96.40-2.27%
  • tronTRON(TRX)$0.063367-2.79%
  • daiDai(DAI)$1.00-0.18%
  • cosmosCosmos Hub(ATOM)$14.38-1.77%
  • chainlinkChainlink(LINK)$7.00-3.08%
  • leo-tokenLEO Token(LEO)$3.603.26%
  • ethereum-classicEthereum Classic(ETC)$22.68-4.69%
  • moneroMonero(XMR)$166.27-3.97%
  • bitcoin-cashBitcoin Cash(BCH)$133.21-3.35%
  • stellarStellar(XLM)$0.090745-2.55%
  • crypto-com-chainCronos(CRO)$0.081189-2.60%
  • filecoinFilecoin(FIL)$5.27-4.85%
  • algorandAlgorand(ALGO)$0.259634-3.14%
  • vechainVeChain(VET)$0.023949-3.80%
  • internet-computerInternet Computer(ICP)$5.56-6.20%
  • aaveAave(AAVE)$86.18-3.14%
  • eosEOS(EOS)$1.08-2.76%
  • elrond-erd-2MultiversX(EGLD)$44.68-4.39%
  • theta-tokenTheta Network(THETA)$1.10-3.69%
  • tezosTezos(XTZ)$1.17-1.57%
  • huobi-tokenHuobi(HT)$5.55-4.19%
  • paxos-standardPax Dollar(USDP)$1.00-0.40%
  • bitcoin-cash-svBitcoin SV(BSV)$43.860.35%
  • havvenSynthetix Network(SNX)$2.55-7.06%
  • pancakeswap-tokenPancakeSwap(CAKE)$4.38-5.15%
  • dashDash(DASH)$62.432.12%
  • iotaIOTA(MIOTA)$0.246494-0.69%
  • makerMaker(MKR)$690.15-2.94%
  • neoNEO(NEO)$8.74-0.91%
  • zcashZcash(ZEC)$43.78-5.72%
  • zilliqaZilliqa(ZIL)$0.028722-5.07%
  • basic-attention-tokenBasic Attention(BAT)$0.287505-2.93%
  • nemNEM(XEM)$0.0409510.63%
  • compound-governance-tokenCompound(COMP)$52.50-2.59%
  • Elrond ERDElrond ERD(ERD)$0.0259290.00%
  • kusamaKusama(KSM)$35.98-4.90%
  • bitcoin-goldBitcoin Gold(BTG)$17.22-2.19%
  • qtumQtum(QTUM)$2.830.37%
  • sushiSushi(SUSHI)$1.44-5.90%
  • wavesWaves(WAVES)$2.65-7.77%
  • golemGolem(GLM)$0.260532-5.90%
  • ftx-tokenFTX(FTT)$1.89-21.50%
  • yearn-financeyearn.finance(YFI)$7,581.08-3.34%
  • omisegoOMG Network(OMG)$1.686.91%
  • ontologyOntology(ONT)$0.2333082.90%
  • digibyteDigiByte(DGB)$0.010539-5.13%
  • umaUMA(UMA)$2.08-3.83%
  • ethlendAave [OLD](LEND)$0.53-3.08%
  • UniswapUniswap(UNI)$2.4438.80%