From Peripheral to Core: Emergence of Supernodes During a Potential 51% Attack on Monero
From Peripheral to Core: Emergence of Supernodes During a Potential 51% Attack on Monero
Level: MAP
Responsible person: Yu Gao
Keywords: P2P, malicious attack
This study explores whether network-layer Sybil dynamics contributed to the effectiveness of Qubic’s publicly claimed 51 % dominance over Monero’s mining power. While the event was presented as a purely computational milestone, passive measurements of the Monero P2P topology reveal a concurrent structural shift: many previously peripheral nodes abruptly became highly connected “supernodes.” These emerging hubs show strong neighbor clustering within identical /24 prefixes and homogeneous hosting providers, consistent with partially coordinated Sybil occupation rather than random churn. By combining temporal degree-trajectory analysis, prefix-diversity metrics, and simulation of partial neighbor takeovers, the project seeks to evaluate how such network-level consolidation could enhance block-propagation advantage and, consequently, the practical impact of a 51 % claim. The results will clarify the interplay between hashpower centralization and peer-topology manipulation, offering quantitative evidence for how hybrid compute-and-network strategies may threaten decentralized resilience.
Request:
- Basic understanding of Blockchain, as well as TCP traffic in the p2p network layer and data analysis.
- Proficiency in programming.
Reference:
- Charting the Uncharted: The Landscape of Monero Peer-to-Peer Network https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=11114669
- Monero Peer-to-peer Network Topology Analysis
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025arXiv250417809G/abstract