Homework on Stale Blocks

Blockchain and Bitcoin 101
#361

  1. We will have a two different blockchain splitting which only one of them will have a continuation depend on the next miner block choice.

  2. Stale block is a block that was in the blockchain and has been dropped because there is another version of the blockchain that is longer without that block.

  3. A stale block occur when a couple or more miners solving the same block at the same time since there could be only 1 version, one of them will be dropped and become a stale block.

  4. To be certain that the transaction is not part of a stale block.

2 Likes
#362
  • What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?

Ans: Both miners are correct, but what will happen is that the miner whose block is selected the quickest to begin building the next block will be selected to remain on the blockchain and the other miners block will be returned to the mempool.

  • What is a stale block?

Ans: A stale block or aka orphaned block is the block that is returned to the mempool because the other miner with the same computation had other miners build the next block on their block quickest.

  • How do stale blocks occur?

Ans: As mentioned in previous answers, the stale block occurs because the other miner had their block chosen first to begin the block in the blockchain and so the longest sequence of PoW will dominate and remain on the blockchain. This creates a stale block for the other miner and it is returned to the mempool.

  • Why is it important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction?

Ans: It is important to wait so that you know that your block will become a stale block and you will not be wasting time or money on electricity.

1 Like
#363

  1. In the Bitcoin network when 2 miners solve a block at the same time both can be validated, a temporary fork if you will. Inevitably though when another miner adds to one of these the blockchains, the one with the higher difficulty will be prioritized over the lesser. Best practice is to wait for 6 validations in the blockchain.

  2. A stale block or Orphan block is a block that has been made redundant over a more difficult or superior block. The transactions contained withing this block get put back into the mempool.

  3. Stale blocks occur when there are more than one validated hashes of a block. When one of these are built upon by another miner, the one that has the higher difficulty is prioritized and continued. The other becomes a stale block.

  4. It is important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction because the transaction you are waiting to be mined could be put into a Stale block. Best practice is to wait for 6 validations in the block chain past your own validation.

1 Like
#364

  1. What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?
    The longest chain will win. The rejected block is returned to the mempool.

  2. What is a stale block?
    A stale block is an orphaned block rejected by the network.

  3. How do stale blocks occur?
    As a result of a fork, only one block can be accepted. The one not selected becomes a stale block.

  4. Why is it important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction?
    Because the transaction could become stale or orphaned if there are not enough confirmations. After 6 confirmations, the coast should be clear.

2 Likes
#365

  1. What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?
    These blocks will be broadcasted to the nearest nodes and two different versions of the blockchain could coexist at the same time until the next miners add new blocks to one of the possible chains. The longest chain will be accepted by the majority of the network as the true blockchain and the other block will return to the mempool.

  2. What is a stale block?
    A block that was confirmed in the blockchain but was dropped because a longer version of the blockchain was chosen instead.

  3. How do stale blocks occur?
    Occur when two different chains of blocks coexist for a period of time but one is discarded and that dropped block is called stale/orphan block.

  4. Why is it important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction?
    In order to confirm that a particular block will not be a stale block when new blocks will be added to that particular chain, and that’s why it is necessary at least 6 confirmations on the network to prevent that.

2 Likes
#366
  1. What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?

At that point in time, half of the nodes are propagating one miner’s block with one set of transactions and the other half are propagating the other miner’s block with a different set of transactions. And both blocks are entered onto the block chain at the same time. Both are equally valid version of the truth. At that moment another miner comes along and begins to add blocks to one of the two blocks. Once that new block is added, that version of the chain becomes the longest version and is therefore accepted by all of the nodes. The block that didn’t get added to gets dropped off of the chain. The transactions that were in the dropped block are added back into the mempool to later be added to another block.

  1. What is a stale block?

A stale block is a block that was added in conjunction with another and is then not added to by a succeeding miner. It’s opposing block is added to the chain and the chain moves forward with the opposing block. The stale block drops off of the network after the succeeding blocks are confirmed.

  1. How do stale blocks occur?

The occur when two competing miners add two different blocks to the chain at the same moment and then another miner begins to add blocks to one of the blocks. The block that does not get added to becomes a stale block.

  1. Why is it important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction?

To ensure that your transaction was not added to a stale block and dropped back into the mempool. Once 6 more confirmations have occurred you can be sure that your transaction is now a permanent entry into the chain.

2 Likes
#367

  1. if two blocks get created at the same time and both spread through the network, there will be two versions of the longest chain which are both valid chains. The chain that will now get new blocks first will be the longest chain and the other one will be forgotten and not accepted anymore. all transactions of the “loosing” chain will be put into the mempool again.

  2. A block that was once in the longest blockchain but is not anymore.

  3. when two blocks get created at the same time only one will survive. they will race to get the next blocks first and be accepted as the longest chain with most PoW. the loser will not be accepted as the official longest chain anymore and will be left as stale block and no one will continue mining on it.

  4. because it could happen that the transaction you received is inside a blocknumber where more than one block exist in this case it could happen that your exact block will become a stale block and the transaction will not be confirmed anymore.

1 Like
#369
  1. What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?
  2. What is a stale block?
  3. How do stale blocks occur?
  4. Why is it important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction?

  • Both are added to the blockchain creating two separate instances but only the longest version of chain will continue.

  • Blocks which were successfully mined but which aren’t included on the current longest chain.

  • When the longer of the chains gets the next block the longest chain wins the others are dropping back to the mempool.

  • In case of a stale block situation

1 Like
#370

  1. When a miner adds a new block, it is attempted to be propagated throughout the network, but some nodes may not see that new block soon enough and add a new block to the chain they have. This “splits” the chain into 2 “valid” chains. Once one of these chains have more blocks appended to it than the other chain, it becomes the new valid chain, because the longest chain is always accepted as the “true” one.

  2. When a chain splits in this way, and eventually one chain gets longer than the other, then the blocks added to the other chain are discarded and their transactions are placed back into the mempool for inclusion in another block. These discarded blocks are called “stale” or “orphaned” blocks.

  3. These stale blocks occur when an appended block is not propagated through the network fast enough for enough nodes to accept it before appending more blocks to their existing chain.

  4. Because of the possibility of this happening, you should always wait until enough blocks have been added after the block containing your transaction so that this splitting of the blockchain is extremely unlikely and you can consider your transaction “permanent”.

2 Likes
#371
  1. Each miner’s block is accepted onto the blockchain and starts propagating throughout the network. New miners will come afterwards and add blocks to the forked blockchain until the network detects on fork is longer than the other. Once that longer fork is detected, the shorter fork is ignored and kicked off the blockchain.
  2. A stale block is a block that was successfully added to the block but was subsequently removed or ignored when a competing block had more blocks added to it by other miners.
  3. Stale blocks occur when two minors solve the puzzle and successfully add their blocks to the blockchain, resulting in two blockchains propogating through the network until the longer blockchain is accepted and kicks out the orphaned blockchain i.e. stale blocks.
  4. Transactions could be invalidated if the block they were in was declared stale.
2 Likes
#372

1 - If two miners solve a block at the same time this can result in nodes having varying copies of the blockchain, this ultimately results in a stale block that will be rejected.

2 - A stale block is a valid block that was dropped due to an alternate valid block being built on leaving the stale block on a shorter version of the blockchain.

3 - A stale block occurs when the alternate blockchain gets built on and it gets rejected.

4 - It can be a good idea to wait for further block conformation to ensure your transaction was confirmed on a stale block.

2 Likes
#373

1/ The block becomes split for a short time until one gets orphaned, dropped and returned to the mempool.

2/. A stale or orphaned block is one that has been dropped and returned to the mempool.

3/. Stale blocks occur when 2 miners both complete the block at same time and cause a fork in the chain until one is dropped and removed from the chain.

4/. It is important to wait for 10 minutes one block completion time to make sure the transaction does not get caught in the possible stale block scenario.

1 Like
#374
  1. The network will look at the 2 versions of the truth and take the longest blockchain
  2. A valid block that has been been dropped from the shortest blockchain and transactions returned to the mempool.
  3. When the block end up on the shorter blockchain that fork of the chain is dropped
  4. To make sure that the block is definitely in the blockchain and does not become a stale block
2 Likes
#375
  1. There are two competing versions of the blockchain that are propagating through the network, which miners may mine one or the other version depending on what their local nodes see. Eventually one chain wins by having the next block mined first, and the shorter chain is dropped.
  2. Stale blocks are blocks that were originally confirmed at the end of the shorter chain but that chain lost in the end to the longer chain, so stale blocks get dropped and the txs returned to the mempool.
  3. Stale blocks occur when you have two competing blockchains due to two miners finding different new blocks at the same time, then one chain loses out to the other which is successfully appended with a new block faster. The block at the end of the shorter block is a stale block.
  4. Because even though you may have 1, 2, or more confirmations, if those are on competing chain which eventually loses out to a longer version of the blockchain, that tx may be returned to the mempool. After 6 confirmations (6 new blocks), this is highly improbable.
2 Likes
#376

  1. One of the blocks become a stale block and its transaction will go back to the mempool.

  2. A stale block is a block that will not be appended to the blockchain.

  3. Stale blocks occur when two blocks compete at the same time to be appended to the blockchain, and only the block with more proof-of-work behind it will be appended.

  4. Because a transaction might be in a stale block.

1 Like
#377
  1. when 2 miners solve blocks at the same time,there is 2 versions of the trutha stale block is one that was dropped from the blockchain and a fork will start. another miner will add his block to 1 of the forks. the other block gets dropped and the data goes back to the mempool.
  2. a stale block or orphaned block is a block that was dropped from the blockchain.
  3. stale blocks occur when a different version of the truth wins consensus.
  4. waiting for more than one block to be confirmed will increase the likelihood of you transaction to not be dropped.
1 Like
#378

  1. Which of the two mining blocks get the next subsequent block, will determine which miner will truly solve the puzzle.

  2. A stale block is a block that did not solve the puzzle and is integrated into the longest blockchain.

  3. Stale blocks occur when blocks are dropped due to not having six confirmations and put back into the mempool.

  4. Best practice is to wait for six confirmations because it is possible that the transaction will be in a block that could possibly be dropped and all transactions become invalidated.

1 Like
#379
  • What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?

**I now understand why Bitcoin takes so long to process. Two different chains are created. The longest chain will win in the long run. The other block will be abandoned and the transactions within that block will return to the mempool for another chance at being processed. **

  • What is a stale block?

This is an abandoned block that contained transactions and was under construction, but became irrelevant once another block became part of a longer chain.

  • How do stale blocks occur?

The last established block in the chain is used to build the next set of blocks that will compete to become the next valid, verified, and accepted block in the chain. The block that wasn’t confirmed is stale, meaning it is abandoned and bypassed in the network.

  • Why is it important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction?

If a split in the chain occurs, one of the blocks will become stale. You don’t want your block to become stale because it will be rejected and all transactions will get put back into the mempool.

2 Likes
#380
  • What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?
    Two blocks are added to the blockchain
  • What is a stale block?
    A stale block is the block that gets abandoned after the split fork, when one chain becomes longer than the other.
  • How do stale blocks occur?
    Stale blocks occur when there’s a split in the fork and subsequent blocks are added to both chains, but one chain will prevail and the other one becomes the stale blockchain, whose transactions will then be dumped back to the mempool.
  • Why is it important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction?
    To make sure that the transaction is not part of stale blocks
    [/quote]
2 Likes
#381

  1. “block one” and “two” are added to the blockchain. If someone solves the puzzle and chooses “block one” and this chain continues then “block two” will be deleted from the blockchain. All the transactions of “Block two” will return to the mempool. The network always accepts the longest network.

  2. A stale block is a block that was part of the blockchain at one time but was removed because the other version of the blockchain became longer.

  3. It occurs when two blocks appear at the same time and the other miner chooses the other block by pure coincidence, then the first block becomes a stale block.

  4. It’s important to wait until there are at least 6 blocks ahead of your block. Because if you don’t wait, there is a chance that your block is in such a block that will be dropped and becomes a stale block. All the transactions in the block will then no longer be valid.

1 Like