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From: Kalle Rosenbaum <kalle@rosenbaum.se>
To: Bitcoin Dev <bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org>
Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] Weak block thoughts...
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2015 17:10:24 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <CAPswA9xFNgdbH1JXBx+CqjT5HbkK0WGaWQLrJzm+BJCmrXRQcA@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAE-z3OU50cZBR27QrQsRT5Gtb0AVkE6K33XR0GebsyNWNrbf+w@mail.gmail.com>

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I was mansplaining weak blocks to my wife. She asked a simple question:

Why would I, as a miner, publish a weak block if I find one?

I don't know.

Sure, I will get faster propagation for my solved block, should I find one.
On the other hand everybody else mining a similar block will enjoy the same
benefit. Assuming that I'm not a huge miner, it's unlikely that I will
actually solve the block, so I'm probably just giving away fast propagation
times to someone else.

So how does publishing a weak block benefit the producer of it more than
the other miners? Please help me understand this.

/Kalle Rosenbaum


2015-09-27 11:42 GMT+02:00 Tier Nolan via bitcoin-dev <
bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org>:

>
>
> On Sun, Sep 27, 2015 at 2:39 AM, Gregory Maxwell via bitcoin-dev <
> bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org> wrote:
>
>> Unless the weak block transaction list can be a superset of the block
>> transaction list size proportional propagation costs are not totally
>> eliminated.
>>
>
> The POW threshold could be dynamic.  The first weak-block that builds on a
> new block could be forwarded with a smaller target.
>
> This reduces  the window size until at least one weak block is
> propagated.
>
> The change in threshold could be time based (for the first 30 seconds or
> so).  This would cause a surge of traffic when a new block once a new block
> has propagated, so perhaps not so good an idea.
>
>
>> As even if the weak block criteria is MUCH lower than the block
>> criteria (which would become problematic in its own right at some
>> point) the network will sometimes find blocks when there hasn't been
>> any weak block priming at all (e.g. all prior priming has made it into
>> blocks already).
>>
>
> If there is a transaction backlog, then miners could forward merkle
> branches with transactions in the memory pool with a commitment in the
> coinbase.
>
> _______________________________________________
> bitcoin-dev mailing list
> bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org
> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
>
>

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  reply	other threads:[~2015-09-27 15:10 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 18+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2015-09-23 15:43 [bitcoin-dev] Weak block thoughts Gavin Andresen
2015-09-23 16:07 ` Bryan Bishop
2015-09-23 19:24   ` Gregory Maxwell
2015-09-23 21:37     ` Gavin Andresen
2015-09-23 22:16       ` Jonathan Toomim (Toomim Bros)
2015-09-24  1:11       ` Rusty Russell
2015-09-27  1:39       ` Gregory Maxwell
2015-09-27  9:42         ` Tier Nolan
2015-09-27 15:10           ` Kalle Rosenbaum [this message]
2015-09-27 19:50             ` Gregory Maxwell
2015-09-28  8:30               ` Kalle Rosenbaum
2015-09-28 13:30                 ` Jonathan Toomim (Toomim Bros)
2015-09-23 16:07 ` Btc Drak
2015-09-23 16:28 ` Peter R
2015-09-23 17:40   ` Gavin
2015-09-23 17:49     ` Peter R
2015-09-23 18:48 ` Tier Nolan
2015-09-24  1:32 ` Rusty Russell

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