Three attacks on Proof of Stake Ethereum

"Honest-but-rational or ideologically motivated validators could use this attack to increase their profits or stall the protocol, threatening incentive alignment and security of PoS Ethereum. The attack can also lead to destabilization of consensus from congestion in vote processing."

Today we're reading through a recent paper that pokes some serious holes in the security of Proof of stake Ethereum. As we get closer to the merge, it's more important than ever to understand the different attack vectors on Ethereum, what the consequences are and how likely these attacks are to come to fruition. 

This readthrough is dense and build on previous episodes we've done, so if you haven't been a long time listener, go back and listen to these first, otherwise it will be hard to understand:

1. Why Proof of Stake

2. The Beacon Chain Ethereum 2.0

3. What is Byzantine Fault Tolerace

4. Flashboys 2.0

____________________

As always, you can support the show by supporting and subscribing to Alpe Audio: 👉 Start learning with Alpe: https://link.alpeaudio.com/70to/d895de1

Want to learn on the go but need more depth than a podcast? Alpe is the app for you. It’s an audio education app that brings great in depth courses that are as fun as podcasts but as educational as well, a degree. Each lesson comes with summaries, additional resources, flash cards and more. You can even find Ethereum Audible on Alpe with all those additional resources.

___________________

Link to the paper "Three attacks on Proof of Stake Ethereum": https://arxiv.org/pdf/2110.10086.pdf