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RE: Thoughts on Fork 22.5 - The Empire Strikes Back

in #steem5 years ago

A similar attack is also possible on PoW chains (51% attack and/or controlling the big mining pools, but it is more difficult because the chain is secured not just with money but also real hardware), similar attacks exists obviously on all Proof of Stake chains, when exchanges and/or one single investor controls the majority of stake they control the chain. Similar problem in democracy. Hence it is so important to go voting, both in RL and also on DPOS systems to mitigate the attack. There were also other mitigation mechanisms discussed by the Steem witnesses, like reducing the number of Witness votes, having a power down-period of several weeks or months, and removing voting rights for the ninja-mined stake (SF 22.2).

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Like I said, PoW and PoS can be attacked too, but it's very, very difficult, and even if they do, it's very temporary. There's no comparison, it's a totally different thing. Also, with measures like the slashing mechanism in Ethereum's upcoming 2.0 PoS system, it's actually impossible.

In short, what just happened with Steem will be impossible outside of DPoS, at least a chain of Steem's size. Other consensus mechanisms have flaws, but nothing anywhere near as dire as this.

Agree, a big chain like Ethereum with PoS and Slashing is much more secure than a small chain with DPoS like Steem, but there are still take over risks with PoS systems too if an attacker has the majority of stake and nodes. The current attack on DPoS can also be temporary, if the community can find a solution and fork or negotiate out of the situation.