Can 51% attacks finally be eliminated? Ethereum founder Vitalik proposes a new concept for this

Compiled by: kyle

A 51% attack is an attack on a blockchain organized by a group of miners that controls more than half of the computing power. Now, Vitalik has come up with a way to stop them!

A 51% attack can be very harmful to a blockchain because it can completely prevent new transactions from getting confirmed and could block payments between some or all users. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin believes this problem can be solved with a timeliness detector.

When "time is money"

This new concept proposed by Buterin solves three challenges because it enables active blockchain clients to reach agreement on three crucial issues. Namely, clients will know:

1. Has a “sufficiently severe” 51% attack occurred?

2. which is the "correct" chain to fuse, and

3. Which validators are “blame” for the attack.

This analysis will be done by a network of randomly selected attesters. They will check the timestamp of each block and determine if it arrived “on time”. Therefore, only blocks that arrived “on time” will be rebroadcasted to the mainnet with the signature of the attestor.

Likewise, this concept of a timeliness detector would eliminate the possibility of censorship on the blockchain. The client does not support any part of the blockchain that rejects "fair" blocks: This is easy: if a block with a self-declared time t is timely, the chain does not include this block until [the deadline] is automatically ruled as non-canonical (...). Is it good for Ethereum (ETH) 2.0? In general, the Ethereum (ETH) researcher community has appreciated the concept. Some of them even asked whether the proposed technology is suitable for the initial stages of Ethereum 2.0, the proof-of-stake version of the Ethereum protocol that will be launched in 2020.

Likewise, this concept of timeliness detectors will eliminate the possibility of censorship of the blockchain. Clients do not support all parts of the blockchain that reject "fair" blocks:

This is easy: if a block with a self-declared time t is in time for a chain, the chain does not include that block until [the deadline] is automatically ruled as non-canonical (…).

Is This New Proposal Good for Ethereum (ETH) 2.0?

The community of ethereum researchers as a whole has applauded the concept, with some even asking whether the proposed technology would be suitable for the initial stages of ethereum 2.0, the proof-of-stake (PoS) version of the ethereum protocol set to launch in 2020.

Vitalik Buterin said that this is possible and that he personally hopes that Ethereum development will move in this direction.