Merged Mining: Curse or Cure?
OA Location
Author(s)
Judmayer, A
Zamyatin, A
Stifter, N
Voyiatzis, AG
Weippl, E
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
Merged mining refers to the concept of mining more than one cryptocurrency without necessitating additional proof-of-work effort. Although merged mining has been adopted by a number of cryptocurrencies already, to this date little is known about the effects and implications. We shed light on this topic area by performing a comprehensive analysis of merged mining in practice. As part of this analysis, we present a block attribution scheme for mining pools to assist in the evaluation of mining centralization. Our findings disclose that mining pools in merge-mined cryptocurrencies have operated at the edge of, and even beyond, the security guarantees offered by the underlying Nakamoto consensus for extended periods. We discuss the implications and security considerations for these cryptocurrencies and the mining ecosystem as a whole, and link our findings to the intended effects of merged mining.
Date Issued
2017-12-31
Date Acceptance
2017-07-24
Citation
Data Privacy Management, Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology: ESORICS 2017 International Workshops, DPM 2017 and CBT 2017, Oslo, Norway, September 14-15, 2017, Proceedings, 10436, pp.316-316
ISBN
978-3-319-67816-0
Start Page
316
End Page
316
Journal / Book Title
Data Privacy Management, Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology: ESORICS 2017 International Workshops, DPM 2017 and CBT 2017, Oslo, Norway, September 14-15, 2017, Proceedings
Volume
10436
Source
1st International Workshop on Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology (CBT'17)
Notes
Pre-print version available at: https://eprint.iacr.org/2017/791.pdf
Publication Status
Published