Homework on Stale Blocks

Blockchain and Bitcoin 101
#1003
  1. What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?
    Whoever have the longer blockchain will win
  2. What is a stale block?
    The shorter block that was rejected by network
  3. How do stale blocks occur?
    When two miners compete, the miner who got the longer block chain will win. The blocks with the shorter chain become “stale blocks”
  4. Why is it important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction?
    In case the transaction happened on the stale block then it will be rejected. wait for one more block to be sure it was legit
#1004

There will be two versions of the blockchain and we shall wait for the next block which will be mined first in one of the two chains so it will be the longest chain and the valid one and the other block will be dropped again in the memepool.

It is a valid block which is mined by a miner at the same time another miner mined another block so we have two blocks but the other miner mined another block so his chain becomes longer so the block in the first chain is dropped in the memepool and it becomes stale or orphan.

The same explanation as above

To give time for the block to propagate to all nodes and sync.

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#1005
  1. The network will pick the longest block and drop the validated block. The dropped validated block will release all the Tx back into the mempool.
  2. Stale block is a validated block that is being dropped from the blockchain network.
  3. Usually when there are 2 or more versions of a blockchain when broadcast into the network but when the longest version is being picked the others are dropped. Hence dropped blocks are stale blocks.
  4. Because your Tx in that block might be rejected (as a stale block) and your Tx will take longer to be accepted into the blockchain network.
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#1006
  1. When two bitcoin network miners solves a block at same time, this creases two version of the valid blocks.
  2. A stale block is a block within blockchain that was once valid but ended up being dropped out of the network due to another valid block was longer with PoW.
  3. Stale block occurs when validated blocks becomes invalidated. This is achieved with two blocks are mined and valid at same time. Whichever block receives the new appended block faster is considered longer and true chain.
  4. Its important to wait for more blocks to be confirmed so that your block is not dropped from the blockchain and your transaction goes back to mempool.
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#1007

1: a fork is created in the blockchain
2: a stale block is the block that was rejected by the blockchain after one of the 2 blocks where mined
3: When 2 miners mine the same blockfrom different distances and only one is chosen by the network
4: to make certain the previous blocks Re confirmed so no chance of changes occurring

#1008
  1. It will create an stale block, and another valid block. The longest chain will remain, the short will drop.
  2. It is an orphan block, no longer part of the current best chain.
  3. when miners solve a block but other miner solve it first. Those orphan block will be drop from the blockchain.
  4. To make sure we are going with the longer chain.
#1009

What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?
The longest chain (with more proof of work) always wins. In case two chains exist in parallel geographically separated step by step with broadcasting both chains, nodes will adopt the longer chain and drop the shorter one.

What is a stale block?
A stale block is a block of a shorter chain that is dropped due to the existance of a longer chain that is adopted instead.

How do stale blocks occur?
Stale blocks occur when miners mine a block at exact same time but geographically seperated.

Why is it important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction?
There might be a parallel chain that is longer and you do not know of. To be entirely sure your transaction is really confirmed and will most likely not be dropped, it is recommended to wait up to about 6 blocks mined after your transaction.

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#1010

Although the blocks are created and they are valid, so some miners will add one block to their blockchain and some miners will add the other block. One will eventually be dropped.

Can you explain us the process in your own words?

#1011

Hi there! Actually, is not a duplicate, as each miner can build their block with different transactions. There will be two different blocks created and both are valid.

#1012

Great answers, as always!! Keep up the great work!

Felipe.

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#1013

Hi there!! A confirmation is when you transaction gets added to a block. So, what Ivan suggests about waiting for 6 confirmations, is to be sure the miners kept working on the same chain as the block your transaction was included, so you know it won’t be cancelled. Actually, some exchanges or wallets wait different amount of confirmations, but 6 is widely used!

Stale blocks don’t need to wait for six confirmations, it will depend on which chain the miners decide to continue building on!

Felipe.

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#1014

Yes, but think you are a merchant and you are waiting for a client to pay for an order. If you only wait for one confirmation, and send the goods or services, you may find minutes later that the transaction was actually not included or discarded. In this case, its better to wait for some confirmations, while the miners decide which is the longest chain!

Felipe.

#1015

Hi there!! What about the other questions!! Give it a try!

Felipe.

#1016

What do you mean by shorter block?

#1017

Technically, both blocks are valid and mined. The difference is that blocks were added to different version of the blockchain, as some nodes got the information first! Also, the blocks don’t need to be equal, as they might contain different transactions!

The idea is to be certain that the rest of the network will accept the blockchain with the block your transaction was included in. If your transaction was on the stale block, it might me dropped!

@Mroman

#1018

Maybe we can say that the stale block is the one that gets dropped, as when they are mined, both blocks are valid and included in two different versions of the blockchain!

Felipe.

#1019

[quote=“ivan, post:1, topic:8434”]

  • What happens in the bitcoin network when two miners solve a block at the same time?
    the following blocks determine which stays on the chain via -longest chain.
  • What is a stale block?
    one that did not get to stay on the chain and got dropped and returned to mempool
  • How do stale blocks occur?
    bad luck… the longer chain was picked.
  • Why is it important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed when sending or receiving a transaction?
    so your txn get confirmed and added to blck and not go back to mempool.
#1020

shorter blocks or shorter blockchain

#1021

1.) If 2 miners solve a block at the same time the longest chain will end up winning while the other will be sent to the memepool.

2.) A stale block is a properly mined yet unaccepted block by the network, a dropped block.

3.) A stale block occurs if two blocks are added to the blockchain at the same time yet one is rejected as it didn’t form the longest chain, this becomes a stale block.

4.) It’s important to wait for more than one block to be confirmed in order to make sure it’s accepted and doesn’t become a stale block. Best thing to do is wait for 6 confirmation blocks.

#1022

True. Is there a rule for that?