Yes but I think you guys are missing the point I'm trying to make which is how do you get onto the correct blockchain and make sure you are starting from the right starting point in a decentralized way?
I don't believe that is possible. Updated the first post to try to make it more clear what I'm trying to say.
I don't believe that is possible. Updated the first post to try to make it more clear what I'm trying to say.
Define Correct Blockchain
If by Correct ,
you mean the one that the Majority supports, it is as easy as comparing your last block with 1 or 2 block explorers.
And that goes for PoW or PoS, especially if you are syncing your client for the 1st time.
The fact is since you receive blocks from multiple 3rd parties in PoW & PoS, other clients, and if they are running a Sybil attack on you,
your client won't know the difference (unless their is a checkpoint in the source code), or unless you verify thru another party. ie:blockexplorer
No matter which algorithm, in order to determine which blockchain is the correct blockchain, Proof of Stake blockchain users need to trust that they have been told the correct initial account balances. How can you prove in a decentralized manner whether you are mining the correct blockchain? You can't without outside help. This makes Proof of Stake practically useless.
And along the same lines, POW-POS hybrids are only as strong/decentralized as their Proof of Work component.
Agreed?
And along the same lines, POW-POS hybrids are only as strong/decentralized as their Proof of Work component.
Agreed?
Your confusion is this, PoW also receives block info from 3rd party clients, if I isolate your system from the others, I can make it see anything I want , as long as it meets the specs in the source code.
PoW or PoS can only determine the chain that matches it specs, as long as that requirement is met, anything else can be manipulated depending on your ability to isolate that node, and only by verifying thru a 3rd party can you be certain you are on the majority supported chain.
Put Simply , there is no correct chain in PoW or PoS, there is only the Majority Supported Chain.
People seem to forget in 2013 , the miners overwrote Bitcoin chain and basically used the collusion of the majority to determine a new majority chain.
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/bitcoin-network-shaken-by-blockchain-fork-1363144448/
Quote
The 0.8 fork had much more computing power behind it, and was already eight blocks ahead by the time the community could muster any effort toward fixing the problem, and upgrading to 0.8 is something that will have to be done eventually. On the other hand, if the 0.8 fork took over, thousands of users on 0.7 would be forced to upgrade in order to use Bitcoin at all, something which would not happen if the 0.7 fork took over since both versions of bitcoind can read it. The developers quickly settled on 0.7, and the community set to work on the next task: notifying major miners and mining pool operators of what they need to do.
In the above you see the majority deciding which chain lived and which died, so in BTC itself their is no correct chain, only a Majority Supported Chain. 