Larger-scale Nakamoto-style Blockchains Don't Necessarily Offer Better Security

arXiv:2404.09895v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Extensive research on Nakamoto-style consensus protocols has shown that network delays degrade the security of these protocols. Established results indicate that, perhaps surprisingly, maximal security is achieved when the network is as small as two nodes due to increased delays in larger networks. This contradicts the very foundation of blockchains, namely that decentralization improves security. In this paper, we take a closer look at how the network scale affects security of Nakamoto-style blockchains. We argue …

arxiv blockchains cs.cr don network networks nodes offer protocols research results scale security