# kaal:claim:3782198-032

**Claim.** Proof of stake carries an unresolved failure mode: if anyone devises a clever algorithm for hijacking the block producer selection process, the network would fail.

**Type.** failure  **Support.** argued

**Holds when.**

- applies to proof of stake designs that select block producers pseudorandomly

**Source quote.**

> The problem is that if someone comes up with a clever algorithm for hijacking the process, then the network would fail.

**From.** Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, *Contemporary Decentralization* (2021), New tools: blockchain protocols, page 31

**Cite as.** Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Contemporary Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782198

**Verify.** sha256 of source PDF `e7e1378e3eed06cace6534e7792a7307d607d18bc6beb4ac45896476280728e4` at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wulfkaal/Academic-Papers/main/papers/pdf/Calcaterra%20and%20Kaal%20-%202021%20-%20Contemporary%20Decentralization.pdf

**Failure mode.** pseudorandom-selection-hijack  (family: consensus-and-protocol-attack)

**Topics.** consensus-and-security, blockchain

**Keywords.** proof-of-stake, consensus, attack-surface, blockchain-security

**Canonical form.** This markdown file is the canonical hashed representation of the claim. Its sha256 is the content hash used for attestation.