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Board Development & Technical Discussion
Merits 1 from 1 user
Re: Does the block hash function need to be cryptographically secure?
by
odolvlobo
on 15/01/2024, 20:46:14 UTC
⭐ Merited by vjudeu (1)
Cryptographically secure hash functions are irreversible so that ciphertexts can't be decrypted by running the function in reverse. But none of the data in a block is encrypted, so the block hash is just a checksum, and shouldn't need to be cryptographically secure. Am I wrong?

A hash function does not do encryption, but still your question is valid. My understanding is that a secure hash function is not strictly necessary because any flaw would presumably be exploited by all miners, and that would simply increase the difficulty.