Selfish Mining ExplainedSelfish Mining Explained

Selfish mining is a strategy used by miners to gain more profits
by not immediately broadcasting newly found blocks and keeping them secret.

⚙️ Scenario⚙️ Scenario

Imagine two miners — Alice and Bob — competing to extend the same blockchain.

🧩 How It Works🧩 How It Works

Round 1: Alice finds a block but doesn’t broadcast it (keeps it secret).
Round 2: Bob mines a block and broadcasts it.
Round 3: Alice mines another secret block and then publishes both, creating a longer chain.

💰 Outcome💰 Outcome

The network adopts Alice’s chain since it’s longer,
and she earns a greater reward for both blocks.

Selfish mining becomes profitable when α > 33%,
where α is the miner’s share of the total computational power.

From: https://eprint.iacr.org/2014/007.pdf

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