- Proof of Stake (PoS) secures the network at a significantly cheaper cost.
- There will be a chance for attacks on the network post Merge.
Aside from the fact, that the Ethereum Merge was celebrated as a significant advancement for the blockchain network, the anonymous security researcher stated that, the move from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) theoretically made it more open to attacks.
In an interview, a layer-2 Proof-of-Stake blockchain developer and security researcher explained that if validators are able to line up two consecutive blocks to validate, then an exploit may take place on the post-Merge Ethereum network.
According to the security researcher, Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake mechanism is unlike a Proof-of-Work mechanism, since PoS allows node validators to plan attacks, that inform validators in advance of the blocks they will validate.
Proof of Work Vs Proof of Stake
In a Proof-of-Work (PoW) system, a single miner must have more than 50% of the network’s total mining power to create a cryptocurrency. Even still, mining requires a considerable amount of electricity and equipment, making it highly time-consuming and costly to gain control of the network.
A layer of social consensus makes a developed PoW system like Bitcoin almost impossible to attack by allowing other network nodes to identify such an attack and potentially fork away from the malicious miners.
Similar to miners in PoW systems, validators in PoS systems produce blocks proportional to the number of tokens they own when they validate transactions on the blockchain. Validators are the equivalent of miners in PoW systems. But Ethereum PoS chain’s main feature is it will keep the network secure at a significantly cheaper cost. So there will be a chance for the hacker’s attacks.
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