Why is increasing block size in the Bitcoin network considered to decrease security?











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I have been doing some research on the Bitcoin Cash hard fork and the main contention of increasing the block size appears to be the possibility of less security on the network. How does an increased block size result in a less secure network?






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    I have been doing some research on the Bitcoin Cash hard fork and the main contention of increasing the block size appears to be the possibility of less security on the network. How does an increased block size result in a less secure network?






    security block







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      I have been doing some research on the Bitcoin Cash hard fork and the main contention of increasing the block size appears to be the possibility of less security on the network. How does an increased block size result in a less secure network?






      security block







      share|improve this question







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      CipherLee is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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      I have been doing some research on the Bitcoin Cash hard fork and the main contention of increasing the block size appears to be the possibility of less security on the network. How does an increased block size result in a less secure network?






      security block




      security block






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          Generally speaking, a larger block leads to more computational resources (tx validation, bandwidth, storage, memory) required for each person who wishes to validate newly confirmed transactions.




          • Higher validation cost lead end-users to rely on/trust
            centralised services to "validate" their transactions.


          • Larger blocks require more time to propagate in the network,
            increasing pooling pressures for more centralized mining-pools.



          The lower the validation cost, the more we can push validation to the edge (end-user) of the network, the more decentralisation we can achieve. Decentralisation is ultimately the source of security, as it is harder for an external force to attack.






          share|improve this answer










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          James C. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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          • Also, off-chain transactions can be made for much cheaper without sacrificing security. No need to store the history of daily coffee purchases of everybody on all Bitcoin nodes in the network.
            – JBaczuk
            yesterday






          • 2




            Well - there is a security sacrifice to be 100% fair. There is no insurance against failing to respond to a cheating counter-party in payment channels. The required vigilance is an additional risk that a confirmed transaction does not have.
            – James C.
            yesterday










          • Can you explain in more detail? Also, even a confirmed transaction still has the small risk of a reorg. There are even users who choose to accept transactions before they have one confirmation (cringe).
            – JBaczuk
            yesterday






          • 3




            That is true. A user can choose how much security he requires from a confirmed transaction before accepting it. Yet a commitment tx, even though it is valid, has not even been confirmed, which is why I mean it has less security. So a lightning payment (a new commitment tx) cannot have the same security as a confirmed tx with a confirmation depth. The entire payment channel capacity amount is in fact still “pending” confirmation.
            – James C.
            yesterday








          • 1




            Right, thanks. It's important that it remain easy to broadcast the state of the channel at any time.
            – JBaczuk
            yesterday











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          1 Answer
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          active

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          up vote
          10
          down vote













          Generally speaking, a larger block leads to more computational resources (tx validation, bandwidth, storage, memory) required for each person who wishes to validate newly confirmed transactions.




          • Higher validation cost lead end-users to rely on/trust
            centralised services to "validate" their transactions.


          • Larger blocks require more time to propagate in the network,
            increasing pooling pressures for more centralized mining-pools.



          The lower the validation cost, the more we can push validation to the edge (end-user) of the network, the more decentralisation we can achieve. Decentralisation is ultimately the source of security, as it is harder for an external force to attack.






          share|improve this answer










          New contributor




          James C. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.


















          • Also, off-chain transactions can be made for much cheaper without sacrificing security. No need to store the history of daily coffee purchases of everybody on all Bitcoin nodes in the network.
            – JBaczuk
            yesterday






          • 2




            Well - there is a security sacrifice to be 100% fair. There is no insurance against failing to respond to a cheating counter-party in payment channels. The required vigilance is an additional risk that a confirmed transaction does not have.
            – James C.
            yesterday










          • Can you explain in more detail? Also, even a confirmed transaction still has the small risk of a reorg. There are even users who choose to accept transactions before they have one confirmation (cringe).
            – JBaczuk
            yesterday






          • 3




            That is true. A user can choose how much security he requires from a confirmed transaction before accepting it. Yet a commitment tx, even though it is valid, has not even been confirmed, which is why I mean it has less security. So a lightning payment (a new commitment tx) cannot have the same security as a confirmed tx with a confirmation depth. The entire payment channel capacity amount is in fact still “pending” confirmation.
            – James C.
            yesterday








          • 1




            Right, thanks. It's important that it remain easy to broadcast the state of the channel at any time.
            – JBaczuk
            yesterday















          up vote
          10
          down vote













          Generally speaking, a larger block leads to more computational resources (tx validation, bandwidth, storage, memory) required for each person who wishes to validate newly confirmed transactions.




          • Higher validation cost lead end-users to rely on/trust
            centralised services to "validate" their transactions.


          • Larger blocks require more time to propagate in the network,
            increasing pooling pressures for more centralized mining-pools.



          The lower the validation cost, the more we can push validation to the edge (end-user) of the network, the more decentralisation we can achieve. Decentralisation is ultimately the source of security, as it is harder for an external force to attack.






          share|improve this answer










          New contributor




          James C. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.


















          • Also, off-chain transactions can be made for much cheaper without sacrificing security. No need to store the history of daily coffee purchases of everybody on all Bitcoin nodes in the network.
            – JBaczuk
            yesterday






          • 2




            Well - there is a security sacrifice to be 100% fair. There is no insurance against failing to respond to a cheating counter-party in payment channels. The required vigilance is an additional risk that a confirmed transaction does not have.
            – James C.
            yesterday










          • Can you explain in more detail? Also, even a confirmed transaction still has the small risk of a reorg. There are even users who choose to accept transactions before they have one confirmation (cringe).
            – JBaczuk
            yesterday






          • 3




            That is true. A user can choose how much security he requires from a confirmed transaction before accepting it. Yet a commitment tx, even though it is valid, has not even been confirmed, which is why I mean it has less security. So a lightning payment (a new commitment tx) cannot have the same security as a confirmed tx with a confirmation depth. The entire payment channel capacity amount is in fact still “pending” confirmation.
            – James C.
            yesterday








          • 1




            Right, thanks. It's important that it remain easy to broadcast the state of the channel at any time.
            – JBaczuk
            yesterday













          up vote
          10
          down vote










          up vote
          10
          down vote









          Generally speaking, a larger block leads to more computational resources (tx validation, bandwidth, storage, memory) required for each person who wishes to validate newly confirmed transactions.




          • Higher validation cost lead end-users to rely on/trust
            centralised services to "validate" their transactions.


          • Larger blocks require more time to propagate in the network,
            increasing pooling pressures for more centralized mining-pools.



          The lower the validation cost, the more we can push validation to the edge (end-user) of the network, the more decentralisation we can achieve. Decentralisation is ultimately the source of security, as it is harder for an external force to attack.






          share|improve this answer










          New contributor




          James C. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.









          Generally speaking, a larger block leads to more computational resources (tx validation, bandwidth, storage, memory) required for each person who wishes to validate newly confirmed transactions.




          • Higher validation cost lead end-users to rely on/trust
            centralised services to "validate" their transactions.


          • Larger blocks require more time to propagate in the network,
            increasing pooling pressures for more centralized mining-pools.



          The lower the validation cost, the more we can push validation to the edge (end-user) of the network, the more decentralisation we can achieve. Decentralisation is ultimately the source of security, as it is harder for an external force to attack.







          share|improve this answer










          New contributor




          James C. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.









          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited yesterday





















          New contributor




          James C. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.









          answered yesterday









          James C.

          52110




          52110




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          James C. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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          New contributor





          James C. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.






          James C. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.












          • Also, off-chain transactions can be made for much cheaper without sacrificing security. No need to store the history of daily coffee purchases of everybody on all Bitcoin nodes in the network.
            – JBaczuk
            yesterday






          • 2




            Well - there is a security sacrifice to be 100% fair. There is no insurance against failing to respond to a cheating counter-party in payment channels. The required vigilance is an additional risk that a confirmed transaction does not have.
            – James C.
            yesterday










          • Can you explain in more detail? Also, even a confirmed transaction still has the small risk of a reorg. There are even users who choose to accept transactions before they have one confirmation (cringe).
            – JBaczuk
            yesterday






          • 3




            That is true. A user can choose how much security he requires from a confirmed transaction before accepting it. Yet a commitment tx, even though it is valid, has not even been confirmed, which is why I mean it has less security. So a lightning payment (a new commitment tx) cannot have the same security as a confirmed tx with a confirmation depth. The entire payment channel capacity amount is in fact still “pending” confirmation.
            – James C.
            yesterday








          • 1




            Right, thanks. It's important that it remain easy to broadcast the state of the channel at any time.
            – JBaczuk
            yesterday


















          • Also, off-chain transactions can be made for much cheaper without sacrificing security. No need to store the history of daily coffee purchases of everybody on all Bitcoin nodes in the network.
            – JBaczuk
            yesterday






          • 2




            Well - there is a security sacrifice to be 100% fair. There is no insurance against failing to respond to a cheating counter-party in payment channels. The required vigilance is an additional risk that a confirmed transaction does not have.
            – James C.
            yesterday










          • Can you explain in more detail? Also, even a confirmed transaction still has the small risk of a reorg. There are even users who choose to accept transactions before they have one confirmation (cringe).
            – JBaczuk
            yesterday






          • 3




            That is true. A user can choose how much security he requires from a confirmed transaction before accepting it. Yet a commitment tx, even though it is valid, has not even been confirmed, which is why I mean it has less security. So a lightning payment (a new commitment tx) cannot have the same security as a confirmed tx with a confirmation depth. The entire payment channel capacity amount is in fact still “pending” confirmation.
            – James C.
            yesterday








          • 1




            Right, thanks. It's important that it remain easy to broadcast the state of the channel at any time.
            – JBaczuk
            yesterday
















          Also, off-chain transactions can be made for much cheaper without sacrificing security. No need to store the history of daily coffee purchases of everybody on all Bitcoin nodes in the network.
          – JBaczuk
          yesterday




          Also, off-chain transactions can be made for much cheaper without sacrificing security. No need to store the history of daily coffee purchases of everybody on all Bitcoin nodes in the network.
          – JBaczuk
          yesterday




          2




          2




          Well - there is a security sacrifice to be 100% fair. There is no insurance against failing to respond to a cheating counter-party in payment channels. The required vigilance is an additional risk that a confirmed transaction does not have.
          – James C.
          yesterday




          Well - there is a security sacrifice to be 100% fair. There is no insurance against failing to respond to a cheating counter-party in payment channels. The required vigilance is an additional risk that a confirmed transaction does not have.
          – James C.
          yesterday












          Can you explain in more detail? Also, even a confirmed transaction still has the small risk of a reorg. There are even users who choose to accept transactions before they have one confirmation (cringe).
          – JBaczuk
          yesterday




          Can you explain in more detail? Also, even a confirmed transaction still has the small risk of a reorg. There are even users who choose to accept transactions before they have one confirmation (cringe).
          – JBaczuk
          yesterday




          3




          3




          That is true. A user can choose how much security he requires from a confirmed transaction before accepting it. Yet a commitment tx, even though it is valid, has not even been confirmed, which is why I mean it has less security. So a lightning payment (a new commitment tx) cannot have the same security as a confirmed tx with a confirmation depth. The entire payment channel capacity amount is in fact still “pending” confirmation.
          – James C.
          yesterday






          That is true. A user can choose how much security he requires from a confirmed transaction before accepting it. Yet a commitment tx, even though it is valid, has not even been confirmed, which is why I mean it has less security. So a lightning payment (a new commitment tx) cannot have the same security as a confirmed tx with a confirmation depth. The entire payment channel capacity amount is in fact still “pending” confirmation.
          – James C.
          yesterday






          1




          1




          Right, thanks. It's important that it remain easy to broadcast the state of the channel at any time.
          – JBaczuk
          yesterday




          Right, thanks. It's important that it remain easy to broadcast the state of the channel at any time.
          – JBaczuk
          yesterday










          CipherLee is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










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