Selfish mining

Sheng-Nan Li and Claudio J. Tessone

Chapter 43 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain and DLT, 2026, pp 212-215 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Selfish mining is a mining strategy that allows the miner in a proof-of-work system to gain disproportionate rewards by withholding mined blocks and selectively releasing them to the network. While challenging to detect due to its covert and anonymous nature, selfish mining poses a threat to decentralisation and network fairness. Understanding selfish mining is crucial for blockchain developers, miners, and users, as it highlights potential vulnerabilities in the blockchain's decentralised consensus model. Detection methods of selfish mining aim to identify selfish mining patterns and mitigate its impact, ensuring fair reward distribution and blockchain security.

Keywords: Proof-of-work; Withholding mining; Information asymmetry; Network latency; Mining cartel; Successive block discovery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035339952
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