51% Attack via Difficulty Increase with a Small Quantum Miner

arXiv:2403.08023v1 Announce Type: cross
Abstract: We present a strategy for a single quantum miner with relatively low hashing power, with the same ramifications as a 51% attack. Bitcoin nodes consider the chain with the highest cumulative proof-of-work to be the valid chain. A quantum miner can manipulate the block timestamps to multiply the difficulty by $c$. The fork-choice rule counts every block with increased difficulty with weight $c$. By using Grover's algorithm, it is only $O(\sqrt c)$ harder for the …

arxiv attack bitcoin block can cs.cr hashing low miner nodes power proof quant-ph quantum single strategy timestamps valid work