Selfish Mining Definition - Glossary

Selfish Mining is a strategy where miners withhold blocks to gain a competitive advantage over the network.

Selfish Mining is a strategy used by blockchain miners to gain more rewards by intentionally withholding mined blocks from the network. Instead of immediately broadcasting a new block after mining it, selfish miners keep it private. This allows them to work on the next block in secret, potentially creating a longer chain than the public one. When their secret chain is longer, they release it, invalidating the public chain and earning more rewards. This can threaten the network's security and fairness by centralizing power and reducing trust in the blockchain.