Ethereum: How does the pool know the share hashes are calculated and not cheated?

36975a65 In the decentralized world of blockchain, the validation process is crucial for maintaining network security and integrity. One such critical component is the Ethereum Pool, where miners work together to ensure that the shared hash calculations are accurate and fair.

How Share Hashes Are Calculated in Ethereum Pool

To understand how share hashes are calculated within the Ethereum Pool, let’s take a step back. In a decentralized network like Ethereum, each block is verified by multiple nodes (computers) running on different blockchain nodes. These nodes verify the transaction data and compute the hash of the block header.

The process begins with the creation of a “difficulty target,” which is set to 4^32 (2^64) – 1. This value determines how many calculations it will take for the miners to find the correct solution, i.e., the shared one hash that leads to a valid block hash.

Miners use specialized algorithms and mathematical techniques to compute the shared hash of each block header, taking into account the difficulty target and the number of available computational power in the network. The resulting hash value is then sent to the Ethereum Pool for verification.

The Verification Process

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When the share hashes are calculated within the pool, they are distributed among all participating nodes (miners). Each node verifies the shared hash using their own computational resources. If a node calculates a correct block header with its calculated share hash and the target difficulty hash, it submits these values ​​to the Ethereum Pool.

The Ethereum Pool acts as a central authority for verifying the correctness of the shared hashes. To ensure fairness, each participating node is assigned a unique set of “weights” based on their computational power relative to the total available resources in the network.

How to Share Hashes Lead to Valid Blocks

When a miner calculates its shared hash and submits it to the pool, they are essentially proposing a block with that shared hash as the target difficulty. The process works as follows:

1. Miners calculate the shared hash of each block header
   1. Each node in the Ethereum Pool verifies the calculated hash using its own computational resources.
   1. If all nodes verify the correct hash, it is considered valid and blocks are added to the blockchain.

   Ensuring Fairness and Integrity

   To ensure that the share hashes lead to a correct block hash, the Ethereum Pool employs several mechanisms:

   1. Weight-based distribution: Each participating node is assigned weights based on their computational power relative to the total available resources in the network
      1. Randomized verification: To prevent any single node from dominating the verification process, nodes are randomly selected for each shared hash calculation
         1. Verification protocols: The Ethereum Pool uses standardized verification protocols to ensure that all participating nodes can verify the correct hash using their own computational resources

            By implementing these mechanisms, the Ethereum Pool ensures fairness and integrity in the validation process, guaranteeing that every participant in the network has an equal opportunity to participate in block creation and validating transactions.