A cornerstone of Bitcoin is the notion of ‘honest miners’. These are miners who act in the best interests of the network.
This is unpacked in more detail in the new eBook – The next era in miner economics: Embracing coopetition and infrastructure. The ebook was written by Bryan Daugherty (Global Public Policy Director at BSV Blockchain Association) Gregory Ward (Chief Development Officer at SmartLedger), and Kurt Wuckert Jr (Chief Bitcoin Historian at Coingeek).
One of the fundamental pillars of Bitcoin revolves around the concept of ‘trustworthy miners’. These miners are characterised by their commitment to the network’s best interests, underpinned by substantial investments in energy, connectivity, human resources, and top-notch hardware. Such miners are deeply vested in the well-being of the network and diligently work to uphold its integrity.
The impacts of miner integrity on the network’s overall health are multifaceted. Firstly, the presence of these honest miners guarantees the network’s security by swiftly rejecting any unauthorised transactions, thereby preserving the network’s unimpeachable reputation.
Secondly, this commitment to honesty fosters a sense of trust among all participants, cultivating an environment conducive to the network’s continued expansion and development. Thirdly, when the majority of miners adhere to these principles of integrity, they collectively wield substantial influence, enabling them to effectively manage aspects like larger block sizes and protocol control. This, in turn, fortifies the network’s resilience and robustness.
For instance, consider a scenario where a miner with majority control attempts a “51% attack” or a double-spending manoeuvre. In such a case, their nefarious actions would be swiftly detected and rejected by the remaining miners. This attempt would leave behind a trail of evidence, rendering it not only feasible but essential to both “blacklist” the malicious miner and hold them accountable for their actions.
A brief explanation of Bitcoin mining
Bitcoin mining represents the advanced peer-to-peer procedure through which nodes incorporate transactions into the openly accessible ledger and generate fresh bitcoins. Miners contribute computational resources to maintain the integrity of the Bitcoin ledger and safeguard the network.
The goal of mining is to be the initial miner who discovers an output that gains approval from the Bitcoin network. Fresh transactions are publicly shared in an area known as the Mempool. Miners choose a variable number, denoted as X, worth of transactions from the Mempool to validate and consolidate into a new block.
Subsequently, both the block and transactions undergo hashing using the SHA-256 function. After successful validation of the new block, the victorious node appends it to the preceding consecutive block in the Bitcoin blockchain, a process that typically occurs approximately every 10 minutes.