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Ethereum: How Concurrent Miners Work and Prevent Subversion
When a new block is added to the Ethereum blockchain, miners are responsible for verifying the transactions contained in the block and ensuring that they are valid. However, to do this efficiently, they must restart their work from scratch. This process involves recalculating the hashes of the previous block’s hash and the new block’s contents, which can be computationally expensive.
However, there is a solution that prevents concurrent miners from subverting each other’s work. The Ethereum network uses a consensus algorithm called Proof of Work (PoW), which requires miners to solve complex mathematical puzzles to validate transactions and create new blocks.
The Problem with Subversion
In the absence of a consensus algorithm like PoW, there is an inherent risk that multiple miners could independently attempt to subvert each other’s work. If two or more miners were able to obtain the same hash for a block, they could use this as “proof” that their previous hash was correct and therefore skip verifying certain transactions.
For example, imagine that two miners are competing against each other to solve the first few mathematical puzzles required to create a new block. Both miners could independently calculate the same hash for their previous hashes, which would be considered valid by most other miners on the network. However, if they shared this same hash with each other, this could be seen as evidence that their previous work was correct and therefore not necessary.
The solution: Proof of Stake
To prevent this subversion, Ethereum’s PoW consensus algorithm uses a different approach. Miners are required to “stake” their own Ether (the network’s native cryptocurrency) to participate in validating transactions and creating new blocks.
When a miner solves the mathematical puzzle associated with creating a new block, they earn a certain amount of Ether, which they can use to “lock” their stake. The longer they keep their stake locked, the more likely other miners will choose to join forces with them to solve the puzzle and gain an advantage. This creates a situation where multiple miners are incentivized to work together to achieve their goal, but there is no way for individual miners to subvert each other’s work. The collective effort of all miners on the network ensures that any attempt at subversion is detected and penalized by the network.
Conclusion In conclusion, Ethereum’s Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm has proven to be a highly effective solution for preventing subversion in a distributed network of concurrent miners. By incentivizing miners to work together and requiring them to share their computational resources to solve the puzzles associated with creating new blocks, the network ensures that any attempt at cheating is detected and penalized by the community. While there are other consensus algorithms available, such as Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) and Hashgraph, Ethereum’s PoW has proven to be a reliable and resilient solution for validating transactions and creating new blocks across a distributed network of miners.