Paper 2023/1489 Original: eprint.iacr.org/2023/1489 ↗
To Broadcast or Not to Broadcast: Decision-Making Strategies for Mining Empty Blocks
Abstract
Resource efficiency in blockchain systems remains a pivotal concern in their design. While Ethereum often experiences network congestion, leading to rewarding opportunities for miners through transaction inclusions, a significant amount of block space remains underutilized. Remarkably, instances of entirely unutilized blocks contribute to resource wastage within the Ethereum ecosystem. This study delves into the incentives driving miners to produce empty blocks. We ascertain that the immediate rewards of mining empty blocks often lead miners to forego potential benefits from transaction inclusions. Moreover, our investigation reveals a marked reduction in empty blocks after the Ethereum's Merge, highlighting that the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism enhances block space efficiency in the blockchain sphere.
Metadata
- Available format(s)
PDF- Category
- Applications
- Publication info
- Preprint.
- History
- 2023-09-29: last updated
- 2023-09-29: published
- Short URL
- https://ia.cr/2023/1489
- License
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
BibTeX
@misc{cryptoeprint:2023/1489,
author = {Chon Kit Lao and Rui Jiang and Luyao Zhang and Fan Zhang and Ye Wang},
title = {To Broadcast or Not to Broadcast: Decision-Making Strategies for Mining Empty Blocks},
howpublished = {Cryptology {ePrint} Archive, Paper 2023/1489},
year = {2023},
url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2023/1489}
}