Researchers from Florida Atlantic University and the University of Mississippi lately revealed analysis indicating that blockchains with “full” blocks — particularly when there’s a transaction queue — seem to have an added layer of safety in opposition to nefarious actors, cash launderers and would-be fraudsters.
Dubbed “Bitcoin Blocksize, Custodial Security, and Price,” the staff’s paper takes a deep dive into the Mt. Gox crash and different situations the place cryptocurrency has been stolen from crypto exchanges.
The research’s premise lies within the notion that the perpetrators of illicit exercise want to full laundering transactions as quickly as attainable.
Per the paper:
“This investigation is driven by the following intuition: the closer the blocksize is to the limit, the more likely the next transaction will be published on a later block and not the most current one. When these cybercriminals breach a crypto exchange, or ‘close’ a fraudulently operated one, they want to launder the stolen bitcoin quickly.”
The researchers examined their speculation by exploiting historic Bitcoin blockchain information and a crypto change “scam report.” Using a pattern interval of 2010 by means of 2021, they created a “fullness” rating for blocks by which to guage the info.
After making a benchmark, the staff analyzed historic information for 2 particular metrics: how a lot block fullness contributed to the worth of Bitcoin (BTC), and how a lot block fullness acted as a deterrent for unhealthy actors.
Their analysis, in response to the paper, confirmed the staff’s speculation that “full Bitcoin blocks act as a deterrent to hackers and scammers because they signal congestion.” They additionally concluded that full blocks “also signal a rise in network security that is captured in price,” thus realizing their second speculation that block fullness affected Bitcoin value.
Per the staff’s findings, block fullness is cited as 20% decrease on the “average day” that has an incidence of a cryptocurrency breach or fraud.
