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LAB — Stress Tests and Grade Compression

· September 7, 2026

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LAB · Stress Tests

Stress tests simulate the network under degraded conditions — lost validators, concentrated nodes, closed doors — and recompute the grade. It is the closest thing to a wind-tunnel for a blockchain’s resistance profile.

Tasks

  1. Run a stress test on the chain that you consider most robust. What does it take to drop the grade?
  2. Run the same test on the network with the weakest decentralization. What did the Nakamoto Coefficient do?
  3. Compare the same load scenario across BTC vs a proof-of-stake chain — different failure modes become visible.

Stress results are opinion + data; be ready to challenge them in the exam.