Free Printable Worksheets for learning Selfish Mining at the College level

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Word	Definition
Selfish	concerned chiefly with one's own personal profit or pleasure.
Mining	the process or industry of obtaining coal or other minerals from a mine.
Blocks	A set of transactions that have been systematically verified by miners create a block containing a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and the transaction data.
Blockchain	A digital ledger of all cryptocurrency transactions.
Network	A group of computers or nodes that exchange cryptocurrency and communicate with one another to maintain and validate the blockchain.
Orphan Block	Blocks that are valid, but which aren’t a part of the main blockchain network.
Fork	Temporary splits of the blockchain due to different miners attempting to validate different portions of the same block of transactions.
Stale Block	Blocks that were calculated but not ultimately used in the blockchain creation, and their miners can receive only a small or no reward for their mining efforts.
Incentives	A set of rewards designed to encourage miners to continue validating transactions in the blockchain network.
Node	A computer connected to a blockchain network.
Difficulty	A measure of Bitcoin competition for mining rewards, calculated every 2016 blocks.
Hash Rate	The rate at which a set or number of hash functions can be solved per second.
Hash Function	A mathematical function that takes an input (a unique data value) and produces an output of a fixed length.
Consensus	An agreement or order. Cryptocurrency networks rely on a consensus mechanism to deter malicious activity and validate transactions.
Proof of Work	A consensus mechanism that requires users on a cryptocurrency network to perform a certain amount of work to add new blocks to the blockchain.
Block Reward	A number of coins given to the miner or node that successfully creates a valid block in the blockchain network.
Soft Fork	A fork that introduces new rules to the network, but participants still have the choice to adopt the new rules or upgrade their software.
Hard Fork	A permanent split from the existing rules, which requires users to upgrade all software clients to stay on a supported network.
Double-Spend	An instance in which one user spends their cryptocurrency with two different parties, by sending two transactions employing the same coin as input, and can sometimes be prevented by the hashing power and security of the cryptocurrency network.
Hash Power	The total computational power used to mine each block on the network.

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Study Guide: Selfish Mining

Introduction

Selfish mining is a game theory attack on the Bitcoin network. Game theory is a branch of mathematics that deals with the study of decision-making in competitive environments. In the context of Bitcoin, selfish mining is a strategy where a miner or a group of miners collude to earn a greater share of the rewards for mining a block.

Basic Concepts

Mining

Mining is a process where a miner tries to solve a mathematical problem to add a block to the Bitcoin blockchain in exchange for a reward.
The problem that miners solve is called a proof of work, which requires a significant amount of computational power and electricity.

Block

A block is a record of some or all of the most recent transactions that haven't been recorded in any of the previous blocks.
A block contains a unique hash that identifies it, the hash of the previous block, and transactions.

Hashrate

Hashrate refers to the overall computing power of the Bitcoin network.
The higher the hashrate, the more difficult it is to solve the proof of work.

Blockchain

The blockchain is an immutable, decentralized database that stores all the transactions ever made on the Bitcoin network.

Rewards

As a reward for mining a block, a miner receives a certain amount of Bitcoin and transaction fees.

Selfish Mining Attack

Selfish mining is a strategy where miners try to control the blockchain by withholding their solved block from the public for a strategic period to inflate the chances of winning the race for the next block.
The selfish miners get an unfair advantage since they are aware of the result of the block they have solved while other miners are still working on invalid blocks.
This attack has the potential to alter the way the blockchain verifies transactions and can result in fraudulent transactions.

Conclusion

Selfish mining creates an imbalance in the Bitcoin network, allowing the selfish miners to earn a disproportionate share of rewards. It is essential for the Bitcoin community to recognize these attacks and make efforts to prevent them from happening. As a promising solution, some researchers have suggested the implementation of the so-called honest mining protocol that ensures the well-being of the overall network instead of a group of selfish miners.

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Selfish Mining Quiz

Answer the following questions about Selfish Mining:

Problem	Answer
What is Selfish Mining?
What is the strategy behind Selfish Mining?
Why is Selfish Mining harmful for the Bitcoin network?
What are the assumptions made in the original Selfish Mining paper by Eyal and Sirer?
Can Selfish Mining lead to a majority attack?
Is it possible to completely eliminate Selfish Mining? Why or why not?
What is the role of the block withholding attack in Selfish Mining?
How does Selfish Mining affect the block propagation time in the network?
Is Selfish Mining profitable for miners in the long run? Why or Why not?
What are some proposed countermeasures to prevent or mitigate Selfish Mining?

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Selfish Mining

Introduction

Selfish Mining is a bitcoin mining strategy that allows a miner to increase their profits by withholding newly mined blocks from other miners. In this way, the miner can control when to disclose the mined blocks to the network, deprive other miners of their rewards, and increase their share of the total rewards.

Key Concepts

Bitcoin Mining: The process by which new bitcoins are created and transactions are verified on the blockchain.
Block Withholding Attack: Withholding a newly mined block from the network and not publicly publishing it. This deprives other miners from verifying the transactions in the block and earning a reward for their work.
The Block Chain: The distributed public ledger that records all bitcoin transactions.
Network Latency: The time delay that occurs when data is transferred over a network.

How Selfish Mining Works

The miner mines a new block and keeps it secretly.
The miner continues mining on top of the secretly mined block, building a longer chain than the public blockchain.
Once the private chain is longer than the public blockchain, the miner can release both the private and public blockchains.
Since the private chain is longer, other miners will start mining on top of the secret chain, which can result in those miners wasting resources if they start mining on the now obsolete, shorter public blockchain.
The selfish miner then gets a head start on the race to be the next miner to find a new block.

Impact of Selfish Mining

Selfish miners can earn more profits and reduce the profits of other miners
This undermines the integrity of the blockchain and can lead to a concentration of mining power, which goes against the decentralization that bitcoin intended.

How to Defend Against Selfish Mining

Changing mining algorithms or modifying the reward system can prevent selfish mining, but it can also lead to other problems such as centralization.
One solution is for miners to reduce their block propagation time to decrease a selfish miner's advantage.

Conclusion

Selfish mining is a strategy that aims to increase the profits of a miner by withholding newly mined blocks from other miners. This strategy can have a significant impact on the profitability and integrity of the bitcoin network. As a result, researchers and developers are working on solutions to prevent this type of attack.

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Practice Sheet: Selfish Mining

Problem 1

What is selfish mining and how does it work in Bitcoin?

Problem 2

Suppose there are two miners - A and B, who have a hashrate of 40% and 60% respectively. A and B are using Selfish Mining strategy. If A manages to mine a block, what is the probability that A will successfully mine the next block as well before the rest of the network?

Problem 3

In the above scenario, what is the expected revenue for A and B after five rounds of mining blocks?

Problem 4

Explain the 'stubborn mining' strategy and how is it different from Selfish Mining?

Problem 5

What are the potential flaws and limitations of Selfish Mining strategy in terms of safety, profitability, and fairness?

Problem 6

Suppose the Bitcoin network has a total hashrate of 100 EH/s, and a miner decides to use Selfish Mining strategy with a hashrate of 20 EH/s. What is the minimum pool size required for the miner to execute the Selfish Mining strategy effectively?

Problem 7

What are the possible countermeasures that can be used to prevent Selfish Mining attacks in Bitcoin network?

Problem 8

What is the impact of Selfish Mining on the blockchain security, network stability, and consensus mechanism?

Problem 9

What are the main limitations and assumptions of the Selfish Mining model, and how can it be improved to reflect the real-world scenarios?

Problem 10

Evaluate the potential ethical and societal implications of Selfish Mining strategy in decentralized cryptocurrency systems, and discuss the role of regulations and governance in mitigating such risks.