Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

The problem with your theoretical attack is, as per the Bitcoin protocol, the target (which determines the difficulty) cannot change by more than a factor of 4 between rounds.[0]

You can't rapidly jump between difficulties like that.

[0] https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Target



Even if you controlled 50% of the mining pool then it wouldn't increase by more than a factor of 4. (It would jump from 2/3 to 1).

It's about the fact that you mine more efficiently not suddenly mining a lot more bitcoin. (You actually mine fewer blocks overall but at a larger reduction in running time costs than the reduction in mining.)


The target isn't the same as the difficulty. The target is what is limited to a factor of 4, not difficulty.

Mining "more bitcoin" or mining "more efficiently" don't matter. What matters is the speed at which 2016 blocks are produced network-wide.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: