Paper 2023/1489

To Broadcast or Not to Broadcast: Decision-Making Strategies for Mining Empty Blocks

Chon Kit Lao, University of Macau
Rui Jiang, University of Macau
Luyao Zhang, Duke Kunshan University
Fan Zhang, Yale University
Ye Wang, University of Macau
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.
Keywords
EthereumBlockchainResource WasteEmpty Block
Contact author(s)
yc37494 @ umac mo
dc02764 @ umac mo
luyao zhang @ dukekunshan edu cn
f zhang @ yale edu
yewang ethz @ gmail com
History
2023-10-02: approved
2023-09-29: received
See all versions
Short URL
https://ia.cr/2023/1489
License
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
CC BY-NC

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}
}
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