BBA* in Algorand: Can Malicious Nodes Influence Consensus on an Empty Block?

General
1

Hi everyone,

I’m currently studying the Algorand protocol in detail, specifically by reading the paper “Algorand: A Secure and Efficient Distributed Ledger”.

In the BBA* protocol, nodes must reach consensus on either a proposed block or an empty block. I was wondering if, at least theoretically, malicious nodes could manipulate the process to force consensus on the empty block or increase the likelihood of it being accepted.

I hope my question is clear. Thank you!

2

The consensus process accepts up to 20 block proposals, and the lowest VRF has wins, so in order to have any kind of undue influence over this step one would have to defeat the VRF, itself, essentially. Does that make sense?