Questions about Forks and Reorgs

Q: Can EarthBucks have a reorg?

A. There are no reorgs by design. Miners (also called “mines”) vote on every block. Once a majority of mining power approves a block, the network acknowledges that and begins to build on it. There is no code to support a reorg. If a mine creates a block that only a minority of mining power approves, then the network will fork.

Q: Aren’t forks bad?

Forks will only happen if the software is buggy, which we do everything to prevent, or if a mine intentionally creates a fork. In the case of bugs, a mine can have an extra check that if they ever fall out of the majority, they simply halt, because something must be wrong. That prevents altchains from being created unintentionally.

But altchains can also be created intentionally. This can be supported in wallet software automatically. New blocks are a new chain, and the wallet can automatically watch all chains. There will be a sighash algorithm that includes the recent block ID in the transaction hash, providing automatic replay protection for all forks.

Forks are OK if they are intentional. That just means a mine wants to create a new chain.

Q: How fast are transactions in EarthBucks?

A: Every transaction is broadcast to all mines. All mines not only validate, but also vote on all transactions. Once a transaction has been voted, it is valid and included in the next block. If a minority disagree, they will create a fork. Again, forks will only happen if they are intentional, or there is a bug, which we do everything to prevent.

It is very important that transactions can be voted so quickly. The voting should happen in about 300ms, enough for two round trip messages round the world. One for broadcasting the transaction and another for voting on it. (Perhaps this could be optimized by doing a single round trip message). This gives users very rapid acknowledgement that their transaction is valid, not just with one miner, but across the entire network.

Q: What happens if most miners create block A, but one miner creates an alternate block A’?

Assuming there are no bugs in the software, this will not happen unintentionally. When a new block arrives, mines drop everything to validate it and vote on it. This should happen in less than 300ms. They will not mine an alternate block in the meantime, guaranteeing no alternate chain is created.

However, alt blocks can be created intentionally. There are no reorgs. Alt blocks are simply new chains. Wallet software can automatically watch all chains. The sighash algorithm includes the recent block ID in the transaction hash, providing automatic replay protection for all forks. Users will get a new asset in their wallet.

A lot of software has to be written to support all of this, and that may not be present in the software on launch day, but the intention of EarthBucks is to be altchain-friendly. Any mine who disagrees with changes to the rules should be able to create an altchain. This is a feature, not a bug. The protocol includes a sighash algorithm with the most recent block ID to provide automatic replay protection for all forks. This makes forks safe.