A Checkpointing protocol in Bitcoin PoW Using Taproot to prevent PoS Chain attck

[alastantiger]

One of the major security issues affecting permissionless proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchains is long-range attacks (LRA), also called posterior corruption attacks. An attack based on the inability of a user who disconnects from the system at time t1 and reconnects at a later time to tell that validators who were legitimate at time t1 and left the system (for example, by transferring their stake to another validator or by assuming a different identity) are no longer trustworthy. Since PoS systems do not require physical resources like energy for the creation of blocks (i.e., are not time-limited), these validators could create forks that start from t1, and run up until the present. It differs sharply from proof-of-work (PoW) systems, in which creating blocks involves time (for instance, Bitcoin difficulty adjustment) as well as physical resources (for example, energy for computation itself) rather than just cryptographic keys. Because clients of a PoS blockchain are presented with a “valid” chain fork, they will not be able to identify the attack.  In order to prevent this attack on a PoS chain, these researchers proposed a protocol that checkpoints the chain's state to a proof-of-work blockchain, such as Bitcoin. With Schnorr signatures and Bitcoin's Taproot upgrade, they were able to create a constant-size checkpointing transaction. The checkpoints becomes constant in the size of PoS validators and indistinguishable from any other Taproot’s transaction. Although, there is still work to be done but this is the only checkpointing protocol that is not dependent on any central authority.

[pooya87]

That's putting lipsticks on a pig.

The PoS protocol is fundamentally flawed, finding workarounds for little issues that keep popping up is not going to solve the real issue. The protocol itself has to be replaced by something else. Not to mention that this proposal sounds like it would be spamming bitcoin blockchain!
It also didn't need to use Taproot, it could have been done using OP_RETURN so that the spam doesn't also spam the node's chainstate.

[LegendaryK]

One of the major security issues affecting permissionless proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchains is long-range attacks (LRA), also called posterior corruption attacks. An attack based on the inability of a user who disconnects from the system at time t1 and reconnects at a later time to tell that validators who were legitimate at time t1 and left the system (for example, by transferring their stake to another validator or by assuming a different identity) are no longer trustworthy.

It is amazing how clueless PoW supporters are.

If I create a segmented network PoS or PoW with a greater block height, and isolate your node when you try and reconnect ,
PoS or PoW your node will follow the wrong chain, no matter what.

The absolutely simple solution for PoS or PoW, is whenever you re-sync a chain after a long time on your node,
is to verify the block height on a running block explorer.

1. Don't be a dumbass and let your IP address get isolated.
2. Always Verify the Blockheight 1st after syncing,  if you have been offline for months.
You should do that anyway.


@pooya87
So what are your plans after the US & Europe ban PoW mining?

[NotATether]

@pooya87
So what are your plans after the US & Europe ban PoW mining?

You know, even Greenpeace seems uninterested in attacking PoW ever since Elon Musk acquired their megaphone.

You might want to help #EndTheFUD and share https://bitcoincleanup.com with other people while you're at it.  


To the OP:

This solution would require merged mining to implement, using a second PoW chain which I don't think Ethereum will do, fresh off the heels of destroying their mining industry.

[LegendaryK]

@pooya87
So what are your plans after the US & Europe ban PoW mining?

You know, even Greenpeace seems uninterested in attacking PoW ever since Elon Musk acquired their megaphone.

You might want to help #EndTheFUD and share https://bitcoincleanup.com with other people while you're at it.  

So how many hours per day are you going without electricity now?
You still in Stage 6?

Latest news is
https://fortune.com/2022/10/19/europe-energy-crisis-blackout-eu-bitcoin-miners/

EU warns it may shut down Bitcoin miners to steer more energy to households and factories

https://www.ft.com/content/d31fbbd6-8325-43b7-94e4-29101cfe6045

National Grid’s chief executive has warned British households to prepare for blackouts between 4pm and 7pm on “really, really cold” weekdays in January and February

https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/jasper/article/texas-power-grid-report-17538879.php

federal report pointed out how consumer demand for power could exceed generation capacity by 18,100 megawatts. One megawatt of electricity is enough to power about 200 homes during periods of peak deman

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/10/12/senator-warren-leads-congressional-groups-probe-into-bitcoin-mining-energy-use-in-texas/

the CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the group expressed concerns that bitcoin mining's enormous demand for energy in Texas is straining the state's grid, adversely impacting consumers and U.S. climate goals. ERCOT manages the Texas electricity grid, which operates independently from the rest of the country.

"Crypto mining is adding significant demand to an already unreliable grid [and] contributing to the global climate crisis," claim the lawmakers, who further assert miners are benefitting at the expense of consumers from "huge ERCOT subsidies in the form of demand response agreements."

The Democratic lawmakers see things differently: "In simple terms, the bitcoin miners make money from mining that produces major strains on the electric grid' and during peak demand when the profitability of continuing to mine decreases, they then collect subsidies in the form of demand response payments when they shut off their mining operations and do nothing."

It's but the latest salvo from Warren against bitcoin and the miners over environmental and other concerns. Last year, she spoke out against Greenidge Generation, a natural gas-powered bitcoin miner in New York state, which eventually saw its air permits denied in July.

[NotATether]

So how many hours per day are you going without electricity now?
You still in Stage 6?

Latest news is
https://fortune.com/2022/10/19/europe-energy-crisis-blackout-eu-bitcoin-miners/

EU warns it may shut down Bitcoin miners to steer more energy to households and factories

https://www.ft.com/content/d31fbbd6-8325-43b7-94e4-29101cfe6045

National Grid’s chief executive has warned British households to prepare for blackouts between 4pm and 7pm on “really, really cold” weekdays in January and February

Oh the utility has been very, very benevolent to me these past few weeks. With a little education, maybe they can accept Bitcoin for my utility bill eventually.

Regarding your (old) news:

EU and UK are just putting bandaids over their wounds, it was their fault for relying too much on Russian gas and now they are paying the price for it which no amount procured from banning PoW mining can cover energy costs. So you have separate cases here.

Maybe more countries boycott Iranian oil too considering it has just joined the war on Russia's side.

[LegendaryK]

So how many hours per day are you going without electricity now?
You still in Stage 6?

Latest news is
https://fortune.com/2022/10/19/europe-energy-crisis-blackout-eu-bitcoin-miners/

EU warns it may shut down Bitcoin miners to steer more energy to households and factories

https://www.ft.com/content/d31fbbd6-8325-43b7-94e4-29101cfe6045

National Grid’s chief executive has warned British households to prepare for blackouts between 4pm and 7pm on “really, really cold” weekdays in January and February

Oh the utility has been very, very benevolent to me these past few weeks. With a little education, maybe they can accept Bitcoin for my utility bill eventually.

Regarding your (old) news:

EU and UK are just putting bandaids over their wounds, it was their fault for relying too much on Russian gas and now they are paying the price for it which no amount procured from banning PoW mining can cover energy costs. So you have separate cases here.

Maybe more countries boycott Iranian oil too considering it has just joined the war on Russia's side.

Good for you.

You have drank the btc PoW Kool-aid.

Personally, even having btc PoW raise my electric bill would be more than enough for me to want the entire BTC network eliminated,
much less having to go thru rolling blackouts on a regular basis like in Texas.  

 

[Pmalek]

You know, even Greenpeace seems uninterested in attacking PoW ever since Elon Musk acquired their megaphone.

Now that you mentioned it, what is going on with Greenpeace and their anti-bitcoin mining initiative? Their efforts to lobby the US government to ban PoW was the reason you created the website we are both advertising in our avatar space. Has anything changed in the meantime, and where does Musk fit it in the whole picture?   

[NotATether]

You know, even Greenpeace seems uninterested in attacking PoW ever since Elon Musk acquired their megaphone.

Now that you mentioned it, what is going on with Greenpeace and their anti-bitcoin mining initiative? Their efforts to lobby the US government to ban PoW was the reason you created the website we are both advertising in our avatar space. Has anything changed in the meantime, and where does Musk fit it in the whole picture?  

I don't think Larsen paid them enough money to continue the campaign for longer than a month and a half  

But seriously though, maybe they are just disgusted by Elon Musk's Twitter acquisition which was not even directed against them that they have decided to direct all efforts against that instead. Who knows.

I'm not going to derail this topic any further, so unless I have anything else to say about surgically putting a PoW chain in PoS - peace out.

[ABCbits]

In order to prevent this attack on a PoS chain, these researchers proposed a protocol that checkpoints the chain's state to a proof-of-work blockchain, such as Bitcoin.

After reading their paper, i find this protocol is in awkward position between PoW merged mining and more complex PoS system (such as what ETH does). And since it require all participant to send small amount of Bitcoin, they could burn lots of money when Bitcoin network congested.

It also didn't need to use Taproot, it could have been done using OP_RETURN so that the spam doesn't also spam the node's chainstate.

The paper state they use OP_RETURN. Taproot (or rather aggregated signature) is needed to reduce transaction bloat created by this protocol since it looks like each PoS validator have it's own Bitcoin public key.

[pooya87]

@pooya87
So what are your plans after the US & Europe ban PoW mining?

Banning something that doesn't exist in Europe (ie. bitcoin mining) won't make any difference at all.
Banning something that exists on a small scale in a small portion of the world (ie. US) is also not going to make any difference.

Maybe more countries boycott Iranian oil too considering it has just joined the war on Russia's side.

lol it's too late since any country that would have complied with the US sanctions already complied about 4 years ago. There is no country left on US side.
Besides Iran never joined Russia's side, what you are hearing in the media is part of the CIA's Iranophobia project that has been going on for 44 years.