Is it possibile for a mining pool to attack Satoshi Dice? A strategy might be: bet on Satoshi Dice and if the bet wins, do nothing, if it looses, don't put the transaction in the block (try to double spend) and hope, that the pool find the block. If the hash rate of the pool is big enough this should beat the house edge of Satoshi? Did I miss something?
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You're absolutely correct. The following would completely work:
- Get ready to perform a Finney attack.
- Gamble some coins.
- If you lose, go through with the Finney attack. Otherwise, cancel your Finney attack, and collect your 1250 BTC from satoshidice.
Is anybody doing this? I don't know.
Nick ODell
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SatoshiDICE makes the returning transaction depend on the incoming one, so any attack which makes a transaction not be in the blockchain won't work. (The returning transaction can't be included until the one to SatoshiDice is) – lurf jurv Feb 09 '13 at 01:17
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3@lurfjurv Which is precisely why you don't perform the Finney attack if your bet succeeds. – Nick ODell Feb 09 '13 at 01:42
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2Oh! I thought you were talking about something totally different. My mistake. You're just cancelling the transaction to SatoshiDICE if the bet fails. Ok, that'll work. – lurf jurv Feb 09 '13 at 02:53
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Would doing this be profitable? http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/8402/can-a-finney-attack-make-satoshidice-betting-profitable – lurf jurv Mar 15 '13 at 20:22
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@lurfjurv I don't see how that question is different from the one asked on this page. – Nick ODell Mar 15 '13 at 20:42
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This is asking if it's possible. I'm asking if it would be profitable, or how much mining power would be needed for it to be profitable. – lurf jurv Mar 15 '13 at 23:39
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1) It could be profitable depending on how much it costs you to write the patch for double-spending SatoshiDice. 2) There isn't a critical mass of mining power. – Nick ODell Mar 16 '13 at 02:40