Fee sniping - Revision history

Belcher: Add link to bitcoinops page about fee sniping

2021-06-16T18:29:50Z

Add link to bitcoinops page about fee sniping

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:29, 16 June 2021
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	The widespread use of [[NLockTime\|nLockTime]] and [[NSequence\|nSequence]] also provides a greater anonymity set for transactions which use these fields to implement [[Contract\|smart contracts]]. For example if an observer of the [[blockchain\|block chain]] sees a spend with an [[NSequence\|nSequence]] value, then that could be either: a regular spend from a wallet, or the [[timelock]] branch of an [[Off-chain transactions\|off-chain settlement transaction]]. The two cases would be indistinguishable, and this could greatly improve the [[privacy]] and [[fungibility]] of bitcoin.		The widespread use of [[NLockTime\|nLockTime]] and [[NSequence\|nSequence]] also provides a greater anonymity set for transactions which use these fields to implement [[Contract\|smart contracts]]. For example if an observer of the [[blockchain\|block chain]] sees a spend with an [[NSequence\|nSequence]] value, then that could be either: a regular spend from a wallet, or the [[timelock]] branch of an [[Off-chain transactions\|off-chain settlement transaction]]. The two cases would be indistinguishable, and this could greatly improve the [[privacy]] and [[fungibility]] of bitcoin.

			== See Also ==
			* https://bitcoinops.org/en/topics/fee-sniping/

	==References==		==References==

Belcher: Reword and add link

2021-06-10T12:30:41Z

Reword and add link

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	As of 2021 the subsidy is high enough, and transaction volume low enough, that fee sniping isn't a problem yet, but by implementing a fix now we ensure code won't be written that makes assumptions about [[NLockTime\|nLockTime]] that preclude a fix later.		As of 2021 the subsidy is high enough, and transaction volume low enough, that fee sniping isn't a problem yet, but by implementing a fix now we ensure code won't be written that makes assumptions about [[NLockTime\|nLockTime]] that preclude a fix later.

	The widespread use of [[NLockTime\|nLockTime]] and [[NSequence\|nSequence]] also provides a greater anonymity set for transactions which use these fields to implement [[Contract\|smart contracts]]. For example if an observer of the [[blockchain\|block chain]] sees a spend with an [[NSequence\|nSequence]] value, then that could be either: a regular spend from a wallet, or an off-chain settlement transaction ~~spent with a [[timelock~~]]. The two cases would be indistinguishable, and this could greatly improve the [[privacy]] and [[fungibility]] of bitcoin.		The widespread use of [[NLockTime\|nLockTime]] and [[NSequence\|nSequence]] also provides a greater anonymity set for transactions which use these fields to implement [[Contract\|smart contracts]]. For example if an observer of the [[blockchain\|block chain]] sees a spend with an [[NSequence\|nSequence]] value, then that could be either: a regular spend from a wallet, or the [[timelock]] branch of an [[Off-chain transactions\|off-chain settlement transaction]]. The two cases would be indistinguishable, and this could greatly improve the [[privacy]] and [[fungibility]] of bitcoin.

Belcher: Create page

2021-06-10T12:28:34Z

Create page

New page

'''Fee sniping''' is a hypothetical outcome of bad incentives to bitcoin mining in the [[Controlled supply|low-inflation future]].

For a large miner the value of the transactions in the best block and the mempool can be exceeded by the cost of deliberately attempting to mine two blocks to orphan the best block. However with anti-fee-sniping protection using [[NLockTime|nLockTime]] or [[NSequence|nSequence]] the bad miner will soon run out of transactions that can be put in the first block, which means they now need to go in the second. Anti-fee-sniping adds to the incentive to move the blockchain forward.

The [[NLockTime|nLockTime]] field is being used this way today. It is implemented in [[Bitcoin Core]]<ref>https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/2340</ref> and [[Electrum]]<ref>https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/blob/7e6d65ec11c0dccfc24478471c5951d3ae586937/electrum/wallet.py#L211-L224</ref>, and adopted by approximately 20% of all transactions<ref>https://p2sh.info/dashboard/db/blocks-statistics?panelId=4&fullscreen&orgId=1</ref> as of 2021.

As of 2021 the subsidy is high enough, and transaction volume low enough, that fee sniping isn't a problem yet, but by implementing a fix now we ensure code won't be written that makes assumptions about [[NLockTime|nLockTime]] that preclude a fix later.

The widespread use of [[NLockTime|nLockTime]] and [[NSequence|nSequence]] also provides a greater anonymity set for transactions which use these fields to implement [[Contract|smart contracts]]. For example if an observer of the [[blockchain|block chain]] sees a spend with an [[NSequence|nSequence]] value, then that could be either: a regular spend from a wallet, or an off-chain settlement transaction spent with a [[timelock]]. The two cases would be indistinguishable, and this could greatly improve the [[privacy]] and [[fungibility]] of bitcoin.

==References==
<references />
[[Category:Technical]]
[[Category:Mining]]