BTC mining pool just reached 50% global mining power
blockchain.info
BTC mining pool just reached 50% global mining power
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Re: BTC mining pool just reached 50% global mining power
#2and how much of the "unknown" is owned by GHash ...
Re: BTC mining pool just reached 50% global mining power
#3What % of HN knows what this means? Maybe this should be a blog post instead and explain what a "mining pool" is. Or what is the significance of one pool taking over the market.
Re: BTC mining pool just reached 50% global mining power
#4as a long time proponent of BTC, this is the first time I'm truly worried. Not that I think GH will do anything 'dodgy', just that it's actually happened and that's not a good thing at all.
GH just did a great job, I think when other competitors step up and provide as good a service - this will become a distant memory of the past - a blip on the radar (I hope).. There'll be a handful of decent pools, thereby never letting this happen again. (I hope again)
Re: BTC mining pool just reached 50% global mining power
#5Interesting data point, thanks!
If all the compute power that together forms the GHash pool were controlled by a single entity, this would be an issue. Thankfully that's not the case.
Re: BTC mining pool just reached 50% global mining power
#6What % of HN knows what this means? Maybe this should be a blog post instead and explain what a "mining pool" is. Or what is the significance of one pool taking over the market.
Anyone familiar with Bitcoin is likely aware of the 51% attack. A blog post is hardly warranted, because this isn't significant. GHash.io does not control all of that compute power. It is a metalayer that coordinates distinct and unrelated compute resources controlled by (supposedly) 180,000 seperate entities[0]. In order for a 50% attack to take place the vast majority (at this point) would have to agree to attack, and that simply won't happen.
[0] GHash.io homepage
Re: BTC mining pool just reached 50% global mining power
#7Why does this matter?
One of the most notorious threats to blockchain-powered networks is allowing a malicious actor to obtain control over more than half of the network's computing resources. This situation is commonly referred to as the elusive "fifty-one percent attack." It is difficult, but not impossible to pull off —http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/bitcoins-fatal-flaw-was-nea... — the aggregation of this kind of hashing power. And it looks like we've nearly made it there again, but there is a difference between a pool getting > 50% of resources, and an "attack."
A successful attack using this method would allow the attacker to exclude, or "orphan" any new blocks from the valid chain causing all newly-minted coins go to the attacker. He may also execute a "double-spend" and reverse any of his own transactions during the window of time that his sham blockchain is considered authoritative by the network.
A successful 51% attack on Feathercoin — http://www.coindesk.com/feathercoin-hit-by-massive-attack/ — was stopped in its tracks by the network's natural uptick in difficulty in response to an increase in network hash rate. The Feathercoin attacker was likely executing a price pump in parallel to compromising the network, which caused coin-switching pools to mine feathercoin and increase the difficulty to a level that stopped the attack.
Re: BTC mining pool just reached 50% global mining power
#8What % of HN knows what this means? Maybe this should be a blog post instead and explain what a "mining pool" is. Or what is the significance of one pool taking over the market.
Anyone familiar with Bitcoin is likely aware of the 51% attack. A blog post is hardly warranted, because this isn't significant. GHash.io does not control all of that compute power. It is a metalayer that coordinates distinct and unrelated compute resources controlled by (supposedly) 180,000 seperate entities[0]. In order for a 50% attack to take place the vast majority (at this point) would have to agree to attack,…
I don't think you're right. The mining machines are pointed towards Ghash pool owner and he becomes the owner of the mined block - that's how he can distribute the BTC to everyone who contributed. So in practice, he controls the whole hashing power and can perform the attack without users' consent.
Re: BTC mining pool just reached 50% global mining power
#9Interesting data point, thanks! If all the compute power that together forms the GHash pool were controlled by a single entity, this would be an issue. Thankfully that's not the case.
Please see my comment above. For all practical purposes, GHash pool owner controls the whole hashing power - he becomes the owner of each mined block and can do whatever he want's with it without users' consent.
Re: BTC mining pool just reached 50% global mining power
#10Bitcoin was supposed to be a decentralized system, not one with a centralized benevolent authority. In GHash We Trust...