To Broadcast or Not to Broadcast: Decision-Making Strategies for Mining Empty Blocks

Abstract

Resource optimization in blockchain systems is a critical aspect of their architectural design. Despite frequent network congestion in Ethereum, a notable proportion of block space is underutilized, with occurrences of completely unused blocks exacerbating resource inefficiency in the network. This study investigates the motivations behind miners’ production of empty blocks. It is found that the immediate gains from mining empty blocks often outweigh the potential benefits derived from including transactions. Furthermore, our analysis indicates a substantial decrease in the frequency of empty blocks following Ethereum’s transition at the Merge, underscoring the effectiveness of the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism in improving block space utilization in blockchain environments.