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From: Ethan Heilman <eth3rs@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2024 16:30:07 -0400
Message-ID: <CAEM=y+XzVksuon-bUsc=44UEw0vWVi_QmB5jjtkLp2VdO2QzbQ@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [bitcoindev] Network partition recovery
To: Tao Effect <contact@taoeffect.com>
Cc: Bitcoin Development Mailing List <bitcoindev@googlegroups.com>
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> Have Bitcoiners gamed this out?

Not that I am aware of.

Short term partitions (10 to 30 minutes) would likely not be noticed by
most users. Long term partitions (1 day to 1 week) would likely cause
relying parties to find non-internet mechanisms to communicate blocks and
transactions.

If say 20% of the mining power was stuck in a partition, the miners in that
partition would likely stop mining once they realized they were partitioned
because they would understand they would lose all their rewards when the
partition stops. Likely people in the partition would no longer respect
confirmations made by miners in the partition because those confirmations
will be reversed when the partition ends.

It seems likely that parties (miners, relying parties) in the partition
will attempt to communicate outside the partition to interact with Bitcoin.

The issue becomes much trickier if the partition, partitions mining power
exactly into 50%. It is unlikely that if the internet has a long term
partition it will exactly split the mining power.

> What happens when the Internet reconnects?

"Longest" chain wins.

 > Or is a merge possible? Can it be done automatically?

Some DAG chains do allow to two forks to be merged automatically including
resolving double spends. Adding this functionality in Bitcoin would likely
be the biggest consensus change in the history of Bitcoin.


On Sat, Jun 15, 2024, 6:11 PM Tao Effect <contact@taoeffect.com> wrote:

> What work has been done on recovering from a network partition?
>
> The day is fast approaching when Bitcoin could be split in two not by a
> purposeful fork, but because the Internet is split in two.
>
> Have Bitcoiners gamed this out? What happens when the Internet reconnects?
> Do we throw out half of the transactions? Or is a merge possible? Can it be
> done automatically?
>
> - Greg
>
> --
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> .
>

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<div dir=3D"auto"><div dir=3D"auto">&gt; Have Bitcoiners gamed this out?</d=
iv><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">Not that I am aware of.=C2=
=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">Short term partition=
s (10 to 30 minutes) would likely not be noticed by most users. Long term p=
artitions (1 day to 1 week) would likely cause relying parties to find non-=
internet mechanisms to communicate blocks and transactions.</div><div dir=
=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">If say 20% of the mining power was st=
uck in a partition, the miners in that partition would likely stop mining o=
nce they realized they were partitioned because they would understand they =
would lose all their rewards when the partition stops. Likely people in the=
 partition would no longer respect confirmations made by miners in the part=
ition because those confirmations will be reversed when the partition ends.=
</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">It seems likely that pa=
rties (miners, relying parties) in the partition will attempt to communicat=
e outside the partition to interact with Bitcoin.</div><div dir=3D"auto"><b=
r></div><div dir=3D"auto">The issue becomes much trickier if the partition,=
 partitions mining power exactly into 50%. It is unlikely that if the inter=
net has a long term partition it will exactly split the mining power.=C2=A0=
</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">&gt; What happens when =
the Internet reconnects?</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto"=
>&quot;Longest&quot; chain wins.</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=
=3D"auto">=C2=A0&gt; Or is a merge possible? Can it be done automatically?<=
br></div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">Some DAG chains do a=
llow to two forks to be merged automatically including resolving double spe=
nds. Adding this functionality in Bitcoin would likely be the biggest conse=
nsus change in the history of Bitcoin.</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><di=
v><br><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote"><div dir=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmail_attr">=
On Sat, Jun 15, 2024, 6:11 PM Tao Effect &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:contact@taoe=
ffect.com">contact@taoeffect.com</a>&gt; wrote:<br></div><blockquote class=
=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rg=
b(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">What work has been done on recovering from=
 a network partition?<br>
<br>
The day is fast approaching when Bitcoin could be split in two not by a pur=
poseful fork, but because the Internet is split in two.<br>
<br>
Have Bitcoiners gamed this out? What happens when the Internet reconnects? =
Do we throw out half of the transactions? Or is a merge possible? Can it be=
 done automatically?<br>
<br>
- Greg<br>
<br>
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om/d/msgid/bitcoindev/CC066457-A396-4680-8F11-F013E5EFDD1E%40taoeffect.com"=
 rel=3D"noreferrer noreferrer" target=3D"_blank">https://groups.google.com/=
d/msgid/bitcoindev/CC066457-A396-4680-8F11-F013E5EFDD1E%40taoeffect.com</a>=
.<br>
</blockquote></div></div></div>

<p></p>

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