Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] Incentives to run full nodes

From: odinn <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2015 22:21:15 -0700

Potentially relevant...

"Incentivizing the running of full nodes"

https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2014-June/006028
.html

(However, the issue to which I referred here is now closed)

View whole thread:

https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2014-June/thread
.html#6028

On 08/17/2015 02:44 PM, Chris Pacia via bitcoin-dev wrote:
> 
> On Aug 17, 2015 5:29 PM, "Peter Todd via bitcoin-dev" 
> <[email-masked] 
> <mailto:[email-masked]>> wrote: From the
> point of view of a
>> wallet, it's not very secure to use Hearn-style SPV mode, and
>> volunteers running full nodes doesn't help things. Sybil
>> attacking the IP address space is pretty easy in comparison to
>> aquiring hashing power sufficient to create false confirmations,
>> so any attacker able to do the former will likely be running the
>> full node you're connecting too anyway. Ultimately, Hearn-style
>> SPV is a close approximation to just trusting anyone with a
>> non-trivial amount of hashing power. (and getting that is 
>> surprisingly easy, e.g. w/ SPV mining)
> 
> Can you explain how the spv node fails against an attacker with a 
> non-trivial amount of hash power where a full node doesn't? To
> attack an spv wallet that is waiting for 6 or 10 confirmations, you
> would not only need to Sybil them but also summon a massive amount
> of hashing power to create a chain of headers (while forgoing the
> opportunity to mine valid blocks with that hash power).
> 
> But could someone with that much hash power not Sybil a full node
> and give them a chain for valid blocks (but on an orphan fork)? The
> failure model doesn't seem specific to spv to me.
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________ bitcoin-dev mailing
> list [email-masked] 
> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
> 

- -- 
http://abis.io ~
"a protocol concept to enable decentralization
and expansion of a giving economy, and a new social good"
https://keybase.io/odinn