6 confirmations is an arbitrary number, originally suggested for increased security which may not be necessarily true any more. Does anyone know of blocks that are several blocks old getting reorganized lately?
Discussion
That’s a fair point but it likely has to be around that number because the odds of multiple solo miners finding the next 3-5 blocks consecutively is very low. And the reason I say that is because in this censorship attack, I am anticipating the government taking over the big mining companies and having a large portion of the hash. And I believe that a large penalty will be imposed by the government on miners that don’t comply which can scare people away from building up a resistance.
Maybe not censorship proof, but you don't need to mine more than one block. If you are being censored by other miners, then they won't build on your block even if it is 6 deep.
The real concern is not becoming orphaned. If there is a chain branch, you have a chance that some miner will build on your block. Of course you could be that miner finding block 2 and winning the longest chain. That's good enough for most cases.