REPORT

March 15, 2024

Statistical Detection of Selfish Mining in Proof-of-Work Blockchain Systems

Are cryptocurrency miners playing by the rules, or are some cheating the system for profit? This study develops novel statistical methods to detect selfish mining attacks across Bitcoin, Litecoin, Monacoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash. 

The analysis uncovers the first empirical evidence of malicious mining behaviour in practice, including secret cartels in Monacoin where miners covertly share information to gain unfair advantages over honest participants.