While Ethereum’s Merge upgrade is seen as a major upgrade to the blockchain network, its move to a Proof-of-Stake system theoretically makes it more vulnerable to attacks.
Speaking to Cointelegraph, the security researcher explained that unlike Proof-of-Work (PoW) systems, a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) system notifies node collectors in advance of the blocks they will validate, which lets them do that. plan attacks.
The security expert, who asked not to be named, is a blockchain developer and security researcher working on the Tier 2 Proof-of-Stake blockchain.
The researcher explained that an attack could theoretically occur on the post-Merge Ethereum blockchain if validators manage to align two consecutive blocks with validation.
msgstr “If you control two consecutive blocks, you can start an attack on block N and end it on block N+1 without any arbitrage bot coming in to fix the price you manipulated between them.”
“From an economic security point of view, [cette vulnérabilité] which makes these attacks much easier to carry out.”
The expert said that while miners can validate consecutive blocks in PoW networks, it amounts to “pure luck” and does not give the miner time to plan an attack.
As a result, the security researcher argues that Ethereum will bring some security strength when Merge goes live:
“In the current situation [avec] Ethereum Proof of Work has stronger security […] and economic guarantees compared to Proof of Ethereum”.
“But that being said […] Proof of Stake [a toujours] adequate practical security [et] it really doesn’t matter that it’s not as theoretically secure as Proof of Work. It’s still a very safe system,” he said.
Also Read: Buterin and Armstrong Reflect on the Evolution of Proof of Stake as an Upgrading Approach to Ethereum Merge
The security expert added that “Ethereum tries its best to find a solution [le problème des blocs consécutifs].
This is a difficult problem to solve, but if it is done, it will lead to Proof-of-Stake security [encore] increase [car] it will protect against these attack vectors”.
There is a good chance that PoS will be reduced on Ethereum collectors, as the consensus rules were designed to give economic incentives to collectors to properly validate incoming transactions and any behavior to the contrary would result in the destruction of their stake in ETH.
Ethereum’s upgrade should finally happen on September 15 at around 2:30 UTC, according to Blocknative’s countdown. The move to PoS should make the Ethereum network more scalable and energy efficient.
