delvingbitcoin

PPLNS with job declaration

PPLNS with job declaration

Posted on: December 17, 2024 07:49 UTC

In the exploration of modifications to the Bitcoin protocol, particularly concerning the efficiency and security of mining operations, a novel approach has been discussed.

This approach involves the evaluation of "fake fees" and shares within the mining pool, suggesting that under certain conditions, an individual could potentially exploit the system to obtain approximately 1 BTC by manipulating these parameters. This manipulation hinges on the Job Distribution System (JDS)'s validation process for each proposed mining job, which requires considerable time and bandwidth due to the necessity of verifying new transactions and potentially evicting conflicting ones from its mempool. The scalability of this verification process is called into question, especially when applied to every DeclareMiningJob message.

Further discussion introduces the concept of "coinbase-only templates," which are essentially proposed blocks that contain only the coinbase transaction without disclosing the other transactions included in the block. This method leverages a merkle proof for the coinbase transaction alone, sidestepping the need to reveal the full transaction set. However, confusion arises regarding how transactions beyond the coinbase are treated or verified under this proposal, indicating a gap in the explanation or understanding of the mechanism's operation.

The dialogue also references a recent proposal found in the minutes of an SRI call, suggesting an evolution in the thinking around mining job declarations. Although the link to the actual proposal was not provided, it is mentioned and can be found here. This proposal appears to aim at streamlining the mining process while addressing issues of efficiency and security but leaves open questions regarding the handling of transactions beyond the coinbase in such "empty weak blocks."