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

Chon Kit Lao; Rui Jiang; Luyao Zhang; Fan Zhang; Ye Wang

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: Ethereum Blockchain Resource Waste Empty 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: 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}
}