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<article article-type="Research Article">
  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">journal-of-information-and-optimization-sciences</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title>Journal of Information and Optimization Sciences</journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn publication-format="electronic">2169-0103</issn>
      <issn publication-format="print">0252-2667</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>Taru Publications</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.47974/JIOS-2240</article-id>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>A security aware discrete mathematics framework for Nash-equilibrium based incentive design against selfish mining and validator collusion</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Kushwaha</surname>
            <given-names>Satpal Singh</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Manipal University Jaipur, Jaipur, Rajasthan, 303007, India</aff>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Gupta</surname>
            <given-names>Pradeep</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, 201015, India</aff>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Goel</surname>
            <given-names>Lipika</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Computer Science and Engineering (AIML), Sridevi Women’s Engineering College, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500075, India</aff>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Prasanna</surname>
            <given-names>Y. Lakshmi</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Computer Science and Information Technology, Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500043, India</aff>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
          <name>
            <surname>Gupta</surname>
            <given-names>Sonam</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, 201015, India</aff>
        </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <volume>47</volume>
      <issue>8</issue>
      <fpage>2987</fpage>
      <lpage>2995</lpage>
      <pub-date date-type="pub">
        <day>31</day>
        <month>08</month>
        <year>2026</year>
      </pub-date>
      <abstract>
        <p>Blockchain networks depend on incentive mechanisms to ensure that rational miners/validators follow the prescribed consensus protocol. However, strategic behavior such as selfish mining, validator collusion, and reward manipulation can degrade security, decentralization, and fairness. This paper proposes a game-theoretic framework to model and analyze incentive compatibility in blockchain systems. We formalize the interaction among participants as non-cooperative and coalition games, where agents choose between honest participation, selfish deviation, or collusive coordination. A mathematical payoff model is developed incorporating reward distribution, operational costs, detection probabilities, and penalty/slashing functions. Nash equilibrium conditions are derived to characterize when honest participation becomes a stable equilibrium. We further introduce a fairness-aware reward shaping mechanism that reduces the profitability of selfish strategies while discouraging collusion through coalition-dependent penalties. The framework provides explicit equilibrium constraints and design insights for secure and fair incentive mechanisms in both Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake blockchain networks.</p>
      </abstract>
      <kwd-group>
        <kwd>Blockchain incentives</kwd>
        <kwd>Game theory</kwd>
        <kwd>Nash equilibrium</kwd>
        <kwd>Selfish mining</kwd>
        <kwd>Validator collusion</kwd>
      </kwd-group>
      <custom-meta-group>
        <custom-meta>
          <meta-name>access</meta-name>
          <meta-value>open</meta-value>
        </custom-meta>
        <custom-meta>
          <meta-name>retracted</meta-name>
          <meta-value>no</meta-value>
        </custom-meta>
      </custom-meta-group>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
</article>
