WeRLman: To Tackle Whale (Transactions), Go Deep (RL)

Roi Bar-Zur, Ameer Abu-Hanna, Ittay Eyal, Aviv Tamar

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Blockchain technology is responsible for the emergence of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. The security of a blockchain protocol relies on the incentives of its participants. Selfish mining is a form of deviation from the protocol where a participant can gain more than her fair share. Previous analyses of selfish mining make easing, non-realistic assumptions. We introduce a more realistic model with varying block rewards in the form of transaction fees. However, this comes at the cost of an intractable state space. To solve the complex model, we introduce WeRLman, a novel method based on deep Reinforcement Learning (deep RL). Using WeRLman, we show reward variability can significantly hurt blockchain security.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSYSTOR 2022 - Proceedings of the 15th ACM International Conference on Systems and Storage Conference
Pages148
Number of pages1
ISBN (Electronic)9781450393805
DOIs
StatePublished - 6 Jun 2022
Event15th ACM International Systems and Storage Conference, SYSTOR 2022 - Virtual, Online, Israel
Duration: 13 Jun 202215 Jun 2022

Publication series

NameSYSTOR 2022 - Proceedings of the 15th ACM International Conference on Systems and Storage Conference

Conference

Conference15th ACM International Systems and Storage Conference, SYSTOR 2022
Country/TerritoryIsrael
CityVirtual, Online
Period13/06/2215/06/22

Keywords

  • bitcoin
  • blockchain
  • deep Q networks
  • deep reinforcement learning
  • fees
  • security
  • selfish mining
  • transaction fees

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Computer Science Applications
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Software
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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