We played the block unlocking game already two years ago... it didn't work. Pools just paid miners from reserves.
We should consider a new approach, like using the PoW to constructed datasets from blockchain data. This should increase bandwidth costs for large pools, which would in turn force them to charge a higher pool fee, making p2pool a more attractive option for miners.
tevador looked into using blocks and txs_pruned data from this blockchain database scheme. Using this patch, he was able to make the performance somewhat comparable to normal mining by a few seconds and it would require larger pruned nodes (in the case of wownero, it is not a big deal, a full nodes is something like 3 GBs). IMO this is an acceptable trade off for having a more decentralized network.
We played the [block unlocking game](https://git.wownero.com/wownero/wownero/commit/b9974f7bff705421fe3a29ef6483329f51bdfdd7) already two years ago... it didn't work. Pools just paid miners from reserves.
We should consider a new approach, like using the PoW to constructed datasets from blockchain data. This should increase bandwidth costs for large pools, which would in turn force them to charge a higher pool fee, making p2pool a more attractive option for miners.
tevador looked into using `blocks` and `txs_pruned` data from this [blockchain database scheme](https://github.com/monero-project/monero/blob/master/src/blockchain_db/lmdb/db_lmdb.cpp#L182-L214). Using [this patch](https://github.com/monero-project/research-lab/issues/98#issuecomment-1186217641), he was able to make the performance somewhat comparable to normal mining by a few seconds and it would require larger pruned nodes (in the case of wownero, it is not a big deal, a full nodes is something like 3 GBs). IMO this is an acceptable trade off for having a more decentralized network.
I don't think that having to provide 256 MiB of cache to miners every two hours would really defeat pool mining. The cost would be negligible, as bandwidth is not expensive and one miner would only require 1 GiB of bandwidth every 8 hours.
A long block unlocking time doesn't guarantee mining-pool resistance neither, but if it's long enough (6-12 months) pools would need to have a very big wownero bag to pay out miners.
I think it's possible that in the past the long block time failed to stop pool mining for two main reasons:
Pools were already running for a long time and they had big wownero bags to pay out miners soon. Now, instead, there aren't any wow mining pools which leads to a much healthier ecosystem.
The lock time was random, and pools could use rewards with low lock time to pay miners sooner.
A long block unlock time should also be particularly effective against algo-switching mining pools. A mining pool like MoneroOcean or c3pool cannot pay out miners with XMR if the wow is locked for 6 months, as it's possible that in the meanwhile wow dumps and so the pool is in loss.
I don't think that having to provide 256 MiB of cache to miners every two hours would really defeat pool mining. The cost would be negligible, as bandwidth is not expensive and one miner would only require 1 GiB of bandwidth every 8 hours.
A long block unlocking time doesn't guarantee mining-pool resistance neither, but if it's long enough (6-12 months) pools would need to have a very big wownero bag to pay out miners.
I think it's possible that in the past the long block time failed to stop pool mining for two main reasons:
1. Pools were already running for a long time and they had big wownero bags to pay out miners soon. Now, instead, there aren't any wow mining pools which leads to a much healthier ecosystem.
2. The lock time was random, and pools could use rewards with low lock time to pay miners sooner.
A long block unlock time should also be particularly effective against algo-switching mining pools. A mining pool like MoneroOcean or c3pool cannot pay out miners with XMR if the wow is locked for 6 months, as it's possible that in the meanwhile wow dumps and so the pool is in loss.
wowario
changed title from Restore pool mining and add 6-month block lock to Restore pool mining1 year ago
#446
We played the block unlocking game already two years ago... it didn't work. Pools just paid miners from reserves.
We should consider a new approach, like using the PoW to constructed datasets from blockchain data. This should increase bandwidth costs for large pools, which would in turn force them to charge a higher pool fee, making p2pool a more attractive option for miners.
tevador looked into using
blocksandtxs_pruneddata from this blockchain database scheme. Using this patch, he was able to make the performance somewhat comparable to normal mining by a few seconds and it would require larger pruned nodes (in the case of wownero, it is not a big deal, a full nodes is something like 3 GBs). IMO this is an acceptable trade off for having a more decentralized network.... or just merge mine with monero
I don't think that having to provide 256 MiB of cache to miners every two hours would really defeat pool mining. The cost would be negligible, as bandwidth is not expensive and one miner would only require 1 GiB of bandwidth every 8 hours.
A long block unlocking time doesn't guarantee mining-pool resistance neither, but if it's long enough (6-12 months) pools would need to have a very big wownero bag to pay out miners.
I think it's possible that in the past the long block time failed to stop pool mining for two main reasons:
A long block unlock time should also be particularly effective against algo-switching mining pools. A mining pool like MoneroOcean or c3pool cannot pay out miners with XMR if the wow is locked for 6 months, as it's possible that in the meanwhile wow dumps and so the pool is in loss.
Restore pool mining and add 6-month block lockto Restore pool mining 1 year agotransferring issue to wownero/meta#55