Definition
Selfish mining is a strategic deviation from honest Proof of Work mining in which a miner or mining coalition withholds newly found blocks from the public blockchain to gain a relative advantage in block rewards. By selectively releasing private blocks to induce chain reorgs, the selfish miner attempts to increase its share of accepted blocks beyond what its hash power proportion would normally justify.
In Simple Terms
Selfish mining is a way for miners to break the usual rules of open block publication and instead keep some blocks secret for a time. By timing when those hidden blocks are revealed, the miner tries to push the public chain to reorganize so that their own blocks win more often and earn extra rewards.
Context and Usage
The term selfish mining appears in discussions of Proof of Work security, incentive compatibility, and protocol robustness. It is analyzed in relation to how much hash power an attacker needs, how often reorg events occur, and how block and difficulty parameters affect miner behavior. The concept is central to evaluating whether a PoW blockchain’s consensus process discourages or tolerates strategic deviations from honest mining.