Schwartz Speaks Out on XRP Ledger Security Debate..."Not Worth It"

▲ XRP

Discussions on reorganizing the transaction order of the XRP Ledger have emerged as a new point of contention, balancing expectations of enhanced security with concerns about potential network performance degradation.

According to crypto media outlet U.Today on July 2 (local time), David Schwartz, Ripple's Honorary Chief Technology Officer, addressed concerns about front-running and sandwich attacks that could occur during XRP Ledger payments and offer cross-matching. Schwartz proposed a transaction reservation system that involves reserving transaction slots.

This method ensures that a specific transaction is executed before subsequent transactions created after its disclosure. The XRP community raised questions about whether transactions could be sorted by submission order by attaching second-level timestamps. Ripple software engineer Mayukha Vadari gave a negative response, stating that the reception time could vary for each node as transactions propagate through the peer network.

Schwartz explained that the closest practically feasible method would be a structure where validators vote on the transaction order during the consensus process. However, he saw clear disadvantages to this approach. If the transaction order also needs to be agreed upon, the number of data bits to be agreed upon increases, which could significantly slow down the consensus process.

As an alternative, a method of attaching a flag requesting order assurance to transactions was also mentioned. Transactions with this flag set would be propagated preferentially over transactions without the flag within the same ledger, and their order would be determined by consensus. However, this method requires an additional fee.

Schwartz also expressed caution regarding this alternative. He said, “I don’t think it’s worth it. Especially because it makes it easier to front-run or sandwich attack transactions that don’t have a flag set.” The reorganization of XRP Ledger's transaction order, while aiming to prevent attacks, remains a technical challenge that requires considering both consensus speed and the vulnerability of non-flagged transactions.

[Article Key Summary]

-Discussions have been raised regarding changes to transaction reservation and sorting in the XRP Ledger to reduce front-running and sandwich attacks.

-Schwartz pointed out that while validator-consensus-based transaction order determination is possible, it could significantly slow down the consensus speed.

-The order assurance flag method offers benefits like additional fees and preferential propagation, but concerns have been raised that it could make non-flagged transactions more vulnerable.

*Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. No responsibility is assumed for investment losses based on this information. The content should be interpreted solely for informational purposes.*