On the Profitability of Selfish Mining Attack Under the Checkpoint Mechanism

Yu Zhou, Shang Gao, Weiwei Qiu, Kai Lei, Bin Xiao

Research output: Chapter in book / Conference proceedingConference article published in proceeding or bookAcademic researchpeer-review

Abstract

Though designed with security in mind, blockchains are vulnerable to various kinds of attacks, especially when the network computational power is low. Selfish mining is one of the most rudimentary and notorious attacks, which maliciously renders blocks found by honest miners orphaned by strategically withholding and revealing the found blocks. In this paper, we analyze the profitability of selfish mining under the checkpoint mechanism - a mechanism that has been adopted as a finality gadget by many blockchains like Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash. We develop a rigorous analysis method and conduct quantitative evaluations in various scenarios to explore the mechanism's suppression effect on selfish mining. The results illustrate that the checkpoint mechanism can restrict the profit of selfish mining and increase the threshold of computational power that makes selfish mining profitable, suggesting that it is a practical defense mechanism against selfish mining.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationGLOBECOM 2023 - 2023 IEEE Global Communications Conference
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages898-903
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9798350310900
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2023
Event2023 IEEE Global Communications Conference, GLOBECOM 2023 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Duration: 4 Dec 20238 Dec 2023

Publication series

NameProceedings - IEEE Global Communications Conference, GLOBECOM
ISSN (Print)2334-0983
ISSN (Electronic)2576-6813

Conference

Conference2023 IEEE Global Communications Conference, GLOBECOM 2023
Country/TerritoryMalaysia
CityKuala Lumpur
Period4/12/238/12/23

Keywords

  • Blockchain
  • Checkpoint Mechanism
  • Selfish Mining

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Signal Processing

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