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On 4 August 2015 14:41:53 GMT-04:00, Dave Hudson via bitcoin-dev 
<bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org> wrote:
>The paper is nicely done, but I'm concerned that there's a real problem
>with equation 4. The orphan rate is not just a function of time; it's
>also a function of the block maker's proportion of the network hash
>rate. Fundamentally a block maker (pool or aggregation of pools) does
>not orphan its own blocks. In a degenerate case a 100% pool has no
>orphaned blocks. Consider that a 1% miner must assume a greater risk
>from orphaning than, say, a pool with 25%, or worse 40% of the hash
>rate.
>
>I suspect this may well change some of the conclusions as larger block
>makers will definitely be able to create larger blocks than their
>smaller counterparts.

Quite correct; this paper is fatally flawed and at best rehashes what we 
already know happens in the "spherical cow" case, without making it clear that 
it refers to a completely unrealistic setup. It'd be interested to know who 
actually wrote it - "Peter R" is obviously a pseudonym and the paper goes into 
sufficient detail that it makes you wonder why the author didn't see the flaws 
in it.

For those wishing to do actual research, esp. people such as profs mentoring 
students, keep in mind that in Bitcoin situations where large miners have an 
advantage over small miners are security exploits, with severity proportional 
to the difference in profitability. A good example of the type of analysis 
required is the well known selfish mining paper, which shows how a miner 
adopting a "selfish" strategy has an advantage - more profit per unit hashing 
power - than miners who do not adopt that strategy, and additionally, that 
excess profits scales with increasing hashing power.

As for the OP, if this wasn't an attempt at misinformation, my apologies. But 
keep in mind that you're wading into a highly politically charged research 
field with billions hanging on the blocksize limit; understand that people 
aren't happy when flawed papers end up on reddit being used to promote bad 
ideas. You'd be wise to run future work past experts in the field prior to 
publishing widely if you dislike heated controversy.

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