Cost of bringing the Bitcoin network to a halt.

ShakyhandsBTCer

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Quote from: auzaar on June 10, 2014, 11:08:23 PM

What is the flaw in this if any?

https://pay.reddit.com/r/Buttcoin/comments/27tk65/quick_calculation_cost_of_bringing_the_bitcoin/

Suppose a person with old-coins wantto bring transaction processing to crawl by spending his bitcoins in creating max transactions, will that work?

He would not need to use old coins to do this. He would just need to use a lot of coins (if inputs or outputs are too small then the TX would not be relayed by nodes nor confirmed by miners). He would have very little incentive to do this as it would lower the value of the valuable coins that he already has.

auzaar

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Quote from: giszmo on June 11, 2014, 12:39:36 AM

The attack would not work as the miners wouldn't include only the attacker's transactions but the transactions with the highest fees. All this attack would achieve would be an enforced min fee of 0.0001 + x. The solution would be a wallet that rebroadcastswith higher fees every 5 minutes of not getting the tx in a block.

Yes that make sense, so it would just temporarily decrease transaction time and/or increase transaction fees.

giszmo

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The attack would not work as the miners wouldn't include only the attacker's transactions but the transactions with the highest fees. All this attack would achieve would be an enforced min fee of 0.0001 + x. The solution would be a wallet that rebroadcastswith higher fees every 5 minutes of not getting the tx in a block.

Ron~Popeil

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Quote from: auzaar on June 10, 2014, 11:54:58 PM

Quote from: Beliathon on June 10, 2014, 11:37:41 PM

Quote from: auzaar on June 10, 2014, 11:08:23 PM

What is the flaw in this if any?

Rational self-interest. Study some game theory and try again.

You don't need to study game theory for this, simple common sense tells me that if it works I can make profit, suppose I have 10000 btc and I want to take sell them (say booking profit after a long run), but instead selling them all I will sell 9000, then use 1000 to bring the network to halt so that exchange rate crashes, and buy my 9000 back, so I have now lots of cash and almost same number of bitcoins and in medium to long term bitcoin price will come back after may be few fixes to protocol, as they always had

Yes these kinds of fears are completely overblown. Each time someone tries an exploit it will become more secure.

auzaar

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Quote from: Ron~Popeil on June 10, 2014, 11:13:05 PM

Quote from: auzaar on June 10, 2014, 11:08:23 PM

What is the flaw in this if any?

https://pay.reddit.com/r/Buttcoin/comments/27tk65/quick_calculation_cost_of_bringing_the_bitcoin/

What stops a person with old-coins to bring transaction processing to crawl by spending his bitcoins in creating max transactions?

I am no expert but I would think such an attack would be counter to the holders interest. If they can't move their bit coin it becomes worthless.

Btw I should re-state my question, I am not asking why that person should not do it, question is will it work or not if he decided to do that.

auzaar

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Quote from: Beliathon on June 10, 2014, 11:37:41 PM

Quote from: auzaar on June 10, 2014, 11:08:23 PM

What is the flaw in this if any?

Rational self-interest. Study some game theory and try again.

You don't need to study game theory for this, simple common sense tells me that if it works I can make profit, suppose I have 10000 btc and I want to take sell them (say booking profit after a long run), but instead selling them all I will sell 9000, then use 1000 to bring the network to halt so that exchange rate crashes, and buy my 9000 back, so I have now lots of cash and almost same number of bitcoins and in medium to long term bitcoin price will come back after may be few fixes to protocol, as they always had

Beliathon

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https://youtu.be/PZm8TTLR2NU

Quote from: auzaar on June 10, 2014, 11:08:23 PM

What is the flaw in this if any?

Rational self-interest. Study some game theory and try again.

Ron~Popeil

sr. member

Activity: 406

Merit: 250

Quote from: auzaar on June 10, 2014, 11:08:23 PM

What is the flaw in this if any?

https://pay.reddit.com/r/Buttcoin/comments/27tk65/quick_calculation_cost_of_bringing_the_bitcoin/

What stops a person with old-coins to bring transaction processing to crawl by spending his bitcoins in creating max transactions?

I am no expert but I would think such an attack would be counter to the holders interest. If they can't move their bit coin it becomes worthless.

auzaar

full member

Activity: 151

Merit: 100

What is the flaw in this if any?

https://pay.reddit.com/r/Buttcoin/comments/27tk65/quick_calculation_cost_of_bringing_the_bitcoin/

Suppose a person with old-coins wantto bring transaction processing to crawl by spending his bitcoins in creating max transactions, will that work?

Topic: Cost of bringing the Bitcoin network to a halt. (Read 762 times)