delvingbitcoin

Zawy’s Alternating Timestamp Attack

Zawy’s Alternating Timestamp Attack

Original Postby MentalNomad

Posted on: August 11, 2024 15:43 UTC

The theoretical soundness of an attack on a blockchain system, which involves selfish mining over a 16-week period, is acknowledged.

However, the practicality of this attack is questioned due to the high requirements, such as the need for an attacker to control at least 50% of the network's hash rate. Despite these constraints, the attack presents a significant risk as it allows for the faster production of blocks and consequently, an increased rate of rewards. This creates a financial incentive for miners, or a coalition of miners whose combined hash rate exceeds 50%, to exploit this vulnerability. It is thus recommended that measures be taken to prevent the possibility of this exploit being used.