The Bootstrap Problem

Cryptoeconomic Security of Proof-of-Stake Systems

To understand the Bootstrap problem, it’s necessary first to examine the key concepts used to analyze the security of a PoS system. These concepts reflect the system’s ability to deter attacks through a carefully designed set of economic incentives and penalties. A fundamental aspect of this security is the system's slashing mechanism, which penalizes validators for malicious behavior. Following definitions in the Stakesure by Deb et al., the key concepts that define the security of PoS systems include:

• Cost-of-Corruption (CoC): The capital loss incurred by an attacker due to slashing penalties during an attack.

• Profit-from-Corruption (PfC): The capital gain an attacker achieves from successfully compromising the system.

• Cost-to-Attack (CtA): The capital expenditure required to execute the attack.

For a PoS system to be cryptoeconomically secure, it must ensure that CoC exceeds PfC. Additionally, the system should aim for a high CtA, making it prohibitively expensive for an attacker to acquire the necessary capital to compromise the network. However, achieving these metrics is particularly challenging for new PoS systems.