C4 Mining & Consensus Mechanisms 2

Question 1

In Proof of Stake, what primarily determines a validator's probability of being chosen to propose a new block?

Accepted Answer

The amount of cryptocurrency staked as collateral

Answer

The validator's uptime and geographic location

Answer

The validator's historical accuracy in signing previous blocks

Answer

The processing speed of the validator's hardware

Question 2

What is 'slashing' in Proof of Stake networks?

Accepted Answer

Penalizing validators by destroying part of their stake for malicious or dishonest behavior

Answer

Reducing transaction fees during periods of low network activity

Answer

Cutting the block reward when a validator proposes blocks too slowly

Answer

Splitting a validator's stake between multiple competing candidate blocks

Question 3

What is Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS)?

Accepted Answer

A consensus mechanism where token holders vote for delegates who validate transactions on their behalf

Answer

A system where mining power is delegated to cloud computing providers

Answer

A model where large validators delegate block production to smaller backup nodes

Answer

A protocol allowing validators to transfer their block production rights to other validators

Question 4

Which foundational computer science problem does blockchain consensus primarily aim to solve?

Accepted Answer

The Byzantine Generals Problem

Answer

The Double Spend Problem

Answer

The Oracle Problem

Answer

The Halting Problem

Question 5

What is a 51% attack?

Accepted Answer

When a single entity controls over half the network's consensus power and can manipulate recent transactions

Answer

When 51% of users vote to alter a blockchain's protocol rules

Answer

When a network loses 51% of its nodes due to a coordinated outage

Answer

When 51% of a blockchain's total supply is concentrated in a single wallet

Question 6

What distinguishes ASICs from GPU mining rigs in cryptocurrency mining?

Accepted Answer

ASICs are purpose-built for specific algorithms and are far more power-efficient than general-purpose GPUs

Answer

ASICs are software-based solutions while GPUs are dedicated hardware components

Answer

ASICs are designed for general computing tasks while GPUs are optimized specifically for mining

Answer

ASICs can only mine Proof of Stake coins while GPUs are used exclusively for Proof of Work

Question 7

How does Bitcoin's difficulty adjustment mechanism work?

Accepted Answer

Difficulty adjusts every 2,016 blocks to maintain a target average block time of 10 minutes

Answer

Difficulty adjusts after every block based on the instantaneous network hash rate

Answer

Difficulty changes are proposed by miners and voted on monthly

Answer

Difficulty increases linearly with the cumulative total supply of Bitcoin that has been mined