How Proof-of-Work Mining Attacks Interact and Affect Incentives
Summary
This systematic review examines attacks on Proof-of-Work consensus and reward systems, using Bitcoin as its main context. It covers selfish mining, double-spending, and block withholding, which can undermine blockchain security, operational efficiency, or how mining rewards are distributed.
The review considers attacks in isolation and combinations that involve other attacks, network-layer tactics, or honest mining behavior. It also discusses situations where competing mining pools use strategies against one another and how this may affect their economic returns. The paper offers design guidance and identifies areas for future work on countermeasures. The excerpt describes the scope and motivation of the review, but reports no specific profitability estimates, comparative findings, or detailed recommendations. Its focus is protocol and miner incentives rather than trading strategies, so relevance to traders is chiefly through understanding cryptocurrency network and security risks.
Key ideas
- Proof-of-Work systems face attacks including selfish mining, double-spending, and block withholding.
- Combining attack methods with other strategies can change their effectiveness and profitability.
- Competing mining pools may affect one another's economic returns through strategic mining behavior.
- The review frames countermeasure design and future research as responses to these threats.
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Full text
# Examining Attacks on Consensus and Incentive Systems in Proof-of-Work Blockchains: A Systematic Literature Review # Examining Attacks on Consensus and Incentive Systems in Proof-of-Work Blockchains: A Systematic Literature Review Cryptocurrencies have gained popularity due to their transparency, security, and accessibility compared to traditional financial systems, with Bitcoin, introduced in 2009, leading the market. Bitcoin's security relies on blockchain technology - a decentralized ledger consisting of a consensus and an incentive mechanism. The consensus mechanism, Proof of Work (PoW), requires miners to solve difficult cryptographic puzzles to add new blocks, while the incentive mechanism rewards them with newly minted bitcoins. However, as Bitcoin's acceptance grows, it faces increasing threats from attacks targeting these mechanisms, such as selfish mining, double-spending, and block withholding. These attacks compromise security, efficiency, and reward distribution. Recent research shows that these attacks can be combined with each other or with either malicious strategies, such as network-layer attacks, or non-malicious strategies, like honest mining. These combinations lead to more sophisticated attacks, increasing the attacker's success rates and profitability. Therefore, understanding and evaluating these attacks is essential for developing effective countermeasures and ensuring long-term security. This paper begins by examining individual attacks executed in isolation and their profitability. It then explores how combining these attacks with each other or with other malicious and non-malicious strategies can enhance their overall effectiveness and profitability. The analysis further explores how the deployment of attacks such as selfish mining and block withholding by multiple competing mining pools against each other impacts their economic returns. Lastly, a set of design guidelines is provided, outlining areas future work should focus on to prevent or mitigate the identified threats.
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This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.