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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Saad Alateef, Dr Nigel Thomas
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
This study analyzes the security implications of Proof-of-Work blockchains with respect to the stale block rate and the lack of a block verification process. The stale block rate is a crucial security metric that quantifies the proportion of rejected blocks in the blockchain network. The absence of a block verification process represents another critical security concern, as it permits the potential for invalid transactions within the network. In this article, we propose and implement a quantitative and analytical model to capture the primary operations of Proof-of-Work blockchains utilizing the Performance Evaluation Process Algebra. The proposed model can assist blockchain designers, architects, and analysts in achieving the ideal security level for blockchain systems by determining the proper network and consensus settings. We conduct extensive experiments to determine the sensitivity of security to four aspects: the number of active miners and their mining hash rates, the duration between blocks, the latency in block propagation, and the time required for block verification, all of which have been shown to influence the outcomes. We contribute to the findings of the existing research by conducting the first analysis of how the number of miners affects the frequency of stale block results, as well as how the delay in block propagation influences the incentives received by rational miners who choose to avoid the block verification process.
Author(s): Alharby M, Alssaiari A, Alateef A, Thomas N, van Moorsel A
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Cluster Computing
Year: 2024
Volume: 27
Pages: 14113–14130
Print publication date: 01/12/2024
Online publication date: 14/07/2024
Acceptance date: 14/06/2024
Date deposited: 10/10/2024
ISSN (print): 1386-7857
ISSN (electronic): 1573-7543
Publisher: Springer
URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10586-024-04645-7
DOI: 10.1007/s10586-024-04645-7
Data Access Statement: All the data and results are presented in the article.
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