diff --git a/src/content/docs/cross-cats/bitcoin-primer.mdx b/src/content/docs/cross-cats/bitcoin-primer.mdx index b8d9668..f3b93a9 100644 --- a/src/content/docs/cross-cats/bitcoin-primer.mdx +++ b/src/content/docs/cross-cats/bitcoin-primer.mdx @@ -110,3 +110,20 @@ Importantly, the sum of all inputs must be greater than the outputs. The differe ## Proving Bitcoin Transactions This section has not been written yet. + + +## Confirmations + +SPV clients are not safe at 1 confirmation, it is required that multiple blocks are built on top. This is because anyone can mine a transaction that passes all SPV checks but contains fraudulent transactions. As a result, an SPV client is at best as good as the blocks built on it. + +Additionally, the SPV client used does not validate the actual difficulty adjustments. Instead it verifies the 1/4 law. As a result, each block shall only be assumed to hold 1/4 of the validation power as a fully verified Bitcoin block. As a rule of thumb, the below table can be used to map value to number of confirmations. + +| Size | Conf. | +|-------------|-------| +| \$0k - \$20k | 2 | +| \$20k - \$100k | 3 | +| \$100k - \$200k | 4 | +| \$200k - \$1m | 5 | +| \$1m+ | 6 | + +Note that starting from 5 confirmations, you get full Bitcoin security as 2 Bitcoin blocks will always reorg the chain to the proper difficulty (assuming the minority chain isn't being mined with 51% of the mining power). \ No newline at end of file