Homework on Stale Blocks

Blockchain and Bitcoin 101
#3874

  1. When 2 miners solve a block at the same time the block with the longest chain wins and the other block is dropped and considered a stale or orphaned block. All the transactions are returned to the mempool

  2. A stale block is the block that was in the blockchain but then dropped because another block that was produced at the same time was part of a longer chain

  3. Stale blocks occur when a block was valid for a long time and because 2 blocks were produced with the same version of the truth but then the shortest block is dropped because the blockchain continued on another block with a longer blockchain

  4. It is important to wait for 6 confirmations to be sure that the block your transactions are in is not being dropped from the blockchain bc it was the shortest version of the chain

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#3875
  1. What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?

Chain will split in two temporarily. Only the block with the longest chain will remain and continue.

  1. What is a stale block?

A stale block is the block that was in the blockchain but then dropped because another block that was produced at the same time was part of a longer chain.

  1. How do stale blocks occur?

Stale blocks occur when a block was valid for a while because 2 were produced with the same version of the truth but then dropped because the blockchain continued on another block

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

Because it is important to wait for 6 confirmations to make sure that the block doesnt get dropped.

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#3876

  1. The network accepts the chain that has the largest number of subsequent blocks and drops the shorter chain.

  2. A stale block is a block that gets dropped.

  3. Stale blocks occur when 2 blocks are created simultaneously, but only one block can survive.

  4. If 2 or more blocks are created simultaneously, the block containing your transaction could be a stale block, but the network doesn’t recognize that it’s stale until the entire network propogates and determines that it is stale. This process takes approximately 10 minutes and ensures that the network recognizes the correct chain and your transaction is accepted into the block.

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#3877

  1. When 2 miners solve at the same time, the blockchain continues based upon proof of work, and which block is chosen to continue the chain. The other block becomes orphaned and transactions returned to mempool.

  2. A stale block is the block not chosen to continue the blockchain when 2 bloxks are mined at the same time.

  3. 2 miners solve the block at the same time.

  4. To be sure that you are not operating on a stale chain.

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#3878

  1. What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?
    One of them eventually gets dropped, depending on which one gets picked faster by other miners.

  2. What is a stale block?
    Blocks that were in the blockchain at one time, but got dropped because there is another longer version of the blockchain

  3. How do stale blocks occur?
    *Stale blocks occur, when 2 blocks gets produced at the same time by 2 different miners, and only one of them eventually becomes accepted by other blocks after several confirmations *

  4. Why is it important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction?
    *To give enough time for the network to validate the transactions and minimize the issue with stale blocks, therefore 6 confirmations are recommended.

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#3879
  1. Both blocks begin to propagate through the network
  2. A stale block is a successfully Mind Block that the next minor did not use so it becomes abandoned.
  3. When two or more miners successfully mine and propagate their block then the next minor grabs one of the successfully mind blocks and the other block gets dropped which makes it a stale block.
  4. It’s important to wait for at least 6 confirmations because your transaction could end up in a stale block and be sent back to the mempool
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#3880 
1. What is a stale block?

Both blocks are added to the blockchain.
2. How do stale blocks occur?
When the network selects a longer blockchain. Then the shorter branch falls off. Fallen blocks are called Stale blocks
3. Why is it important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction?
Because of stale blocks.

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#3881
  1. What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?

The chain splits and the block with longest proof of work will be accepted and the other block is dropped and its transactions will be sent to the mempool.

  1. What is a stale block ?

A short block that was dropped by the chain.

  1. How does a stale block occur ?

when 2 miners produce blocks at the same time and only one version of the chain is propagated to the network eventually stale block will be dropped as a result.

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

To Minimise the occurrence of stale blocks.

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#3882

  1. What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?
    Since the new block take time to be propagated to the whole network around the world, the two miners are in fact adding a different block to the blockchain at the same time. This creates a temporary fork. This is eventually remediated when the longest chain is adopted.

  2. What is a stale block?
    A block that was valid and was added as part of the blockchain that was later dropped/disbanded. Transactions that were part of an orphan block are returned to mempool to be processed again.

  3. How do stale blocks occur?
    When there’s a fork in the blockchain, the blocks in the fork that is not adopted by the network are removed.

  4. Why is it important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction?
    Orphan blocks happen, so be to sure your transaction is processed and wasn’t part of an orphan block that required reprocessing, it’s best to wait 6 confirmations.

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#3883
  1. What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?

Whichever block gets to 51% first, the longer chain, remains.

  1. What is a stale block?

A successfully mined block that was not in the longest chain, then dropped from the chain.

  1. How do stale blocks occur?

By a block that was dropped from the chain because it had a shorter history, it lost the race.

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

To make sure the confirmation was not in a block that became stale and got dropped.

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#3884
  1. What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?

a) Both miners will propagate their block to other nodes closest to them. There are two versions of truth being circulated until a miner completes and adds a block to their version of the chain. At this time, the network will accept the longer block representing the most amount PoW.

  1. What is a stale block?

a) A stale block is a simultaneously generated valid block that the network drops because a new block was added to a different version of the chain resulting in a longer chain.

  1. How do stale blocks occur?

a) When multiple valid blocks are produced and circulated at the same time. One of them will be accepted in the future, and be built upon, the other block is dropped and referred to as a stale or orphaned block.

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

a) It is best practice to wait for six completed blocks before confirming a transaction. This ensures the block containing the transaction is not dropped becoming stale and transactions contained within added back to the mempool.

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#3885
  1. What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?
    The next miner that connects, to one of the current blocks, will continue the chain. The network will always accept the longest chain. Therefore, the one miner’s block, that wasn’t built upon, which has the shortest chain will be ignored.
  2. What is a stale block?
    A block that was in the chain, at one time, but was dropped as another chain was longer and was picked up. It is also referred to as an orphan block
  3. How do stale blocks occur?
    When two miners compete for the same block in the same amount of time. The block that is the shortest will be ignored.
  4. Why is it important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction?
    You should always wait for at least 6 block confirmations, after your block, to ensure your block will not be the dropped block and become invalidated
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#3886
  1. When two blocks are solved at the same time one becomes the truth and the other gets sent to the mempool.
  2. A stale block is a block that gets dropped by the network.
  3. A stale block occurs when two valid version of the blockchain get added and on gets accepted by other miners as true the one that gets dropped is an orphan block.
  4. It is important to wait for at least 6 confirmations because your tx might be in a stale block, get dropped, and added to the mempool.
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#3887

They both distribute the the new block to the network. Each other node has a a blockchain version containing as a last block the block created of either one of them.

When there are more than one versions of blockchain, they differ at the last block (or the last few blocks). Let’s say a miner that has version A of blockchain finds solution for the creation of the next block. He adds that new block to the chain and distributes the new version to the network. This new block chain is one block longer. Any node that has a different version (let’s say B) of blockchain will discard it because they nodes always choose the longer version. This results in discarding the last block at version B and place all the transactions it included back to the mempool. This is poor little orphan block is called Stale Block

Imagine in the previous example if a miner with version B (of length n) blockchain has also found a solution. He would also distributed the the enlengthen version B (length n+2) blockchain in some nodes. If one of these nodes received the enlengthen version A he wouldn’t accept it because the tow blockchains are equal in length but he received B version before A. In this case both of versions will be still at the network waiting the next block to be created, thus resolving which version would prevail. At that time the new blockchain would be of length n+2 and would longer. A node containing the B version (n+1) would now discard 2 blocks as it accepts the new blockchain pushing back in mempool 2 blocks.
That’s why its important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed.

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#3888
  1. The largest chain will win, the shorter chain will be dropped into the Mempool.
  2. A Stale block is a block that was dropped because a longer version of the blockchain exists in the network, Called stale lock/ orphan block.
  3. They occur when two miners mine a valid block at the same time.
  4. Waiting 10 mins. is good to make sure your transaction goes through alright and does not become a stale block.
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#3889

1 When two miners solve a block at the same time both blocks are propagated creating a fork in 2 chains

2 Stale block is the block of the shortest chain that is been dropped to the mempool

3 Stale blocks occur when 2 blocks are mined at the same time and create a fork in 2 chains. The block in the shortest chain is dropped to the mempool

4 It is important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction to be sure that the transaction is been confirmed 6 times and not dropped to the mempool

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#3890
  1. What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?
    2 blocks are created with different chains and the longest blockchain wins
  2. What is a stale block?
    Stale block is the block belonging not to the longest chain and eventually will send back the transactions to mempool
  3. How do stale blocks occur?
    when 2 miners simultaneously succeed in solving cryptographic puzzle and then append to the block chain. The one with longest blockchain wins and other new block will become stale
  4. Why is it important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction?
    because your transaction can end up in the stale block
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#3891

  • What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?
    Longest chain wins.

  • What is a stale block?
    A block that “lost” the block production tie breaker

  • How do stale blocks occur?
    When a previously valid block was dropped after the chain continued on another block.

  • Why is it important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction?
    Conformations are important because they ensure your transaction has not been dropped from the chain.

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#3892
  1. What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?
    Both are approved and chain is forked and when next block is mined network will start to reject shorter chain.
  2. What is a stale block?
    Created block that was later dropped
  3. How do stale blocks occur?
    Block get’s mined approximately same time.
  4. Why is it important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction?
    In case that if transaction is in stale or orphaned it might get returned to mempool.
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#3893
  1. They both get appended to the BC
  2. A block that was confirmed and appended to the BC but later is “dropped”
  3. When two blocks are completed simultaneously and each block is being propagated by the nodes nearest to them then and both are appended to the BC… then another miner appends his newly produced block to one of these 2 competing blocks creating a BC longer than the other competing block - because this new BC now has more POW, the other competing block is dropped from the chain and all its txs are returned to the mempool
  4. To be on the safe side, it is important that there are at least six confirmations after the block your tx is in because of the possibility of your block being dropped for various reasons and then your tx is returned to the mempool.
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