Post
Topic
Board Development & Technical Discussion
Re: Bitcoin Theory (Byzantine Generals and Beyond)
by
HZKto
on 25/12/2013, 02:39:50 UTC
Here's the crux of the distinction. If Bitcoin were a deterministic Byzantine Generals solution, then it would provide a claim like the following: "If you wait 6 blocks before making an irreversible action (e.g. handing over a bar of gold to a stranger), then you're 100% guaranteed not to get double-spent."

There is some guarantee: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/285cf7a1a6cb660b57cbc75f63e49736b51d705e/src/main.cpp#L2255-L2260
Code:
int64_t deltaTime = pblock->GetBlockTime() - pcheckpoint->nTime;
if (deltaTime < 0)
{
    return state.DoS(100, error("ProcessBlock() : block with timestamp before last checkpoint"),
                     REJECT_CHECKPOINT, "timestamp before checkpoint");
}

P.S. Thanks for summarizing paper references!