{"id":52659,"date":"2020-11-29T09:02:22","date_gmt":"2020-11-29T09:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=52659"},"modified":"2020-11-29T09:02:22","modified_gmt":"2020-11-29T09:02:22","slug":"hash-war-mystery-miners-empty-block-attack-makes-abcs-new-blockchain-almost-unusable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=52659","title":{"rendered":"Hash War: Mystery Miner\u2019s Empty Block Attack Makes ABC\u2019s New Blockchain Almost Unusable"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hash<\/p>\n

According to various reports, the Bitcoin ABC pro-IFP chain has been under \u2018attack\u2019 for a number of consecutive days now. The mystery miner has been mining a great number of sequential blocks, but almost all of them have been empty. The miner who calls himself \u2018Voluntarism.dev\u2019 says the mining operation is a group of \u201cold-guard miners,\u201d and claims they can mess with the minority ABC chain for years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

** This article has been updated at 6:15 p.m. (EST) on November 28, in order to reflect recent comments<\/a> from Blockchair\u2019s founder, Nikita Zhavoronkov, who has stated there have been at least six blockchain reorgs on the ABC\u2019s nameless chain to-date, since the node forked off on November 15, 2020. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018The Price of Freedom Is Steep\u2019<\/h2>\n

The cryptocurrency community has been watching the aftermath of the recent blockchain bifurcation, which saw the Bitcoin ABC node fork into its own blockchain. The Bitcoin ABC network is still nameless and without branding, and the token is often referred to as either \u201cABC,\u201d \u201cBCHA,\u201d or \u201cBAB.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, news.Bitcoin.com reported<\/a> on a stealth miner who has been mining a large number of consecutive empty blocks. Because blocks have been empty for so long, it\u2019s been hard for anyone to send a transaction on the ABC chain and get the transaction confirmed in a timely manner.<\/p>\n

\"Hash
It is assumed that the mystery mining pool operator Voluntarism.dev controls 90% of the ABC chain\u2019s hashrate on Saturday, November 28, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since our newsdesk\u2019s report, the mystery miner has introduced the group on Twitter under the account name Voluntarism.dev,<\/a> and through coinbase parameter messages every time the pool finds an ABC block reward. On November 24, 2020, the Voluntarism.dev Twitter account created a message with a blockchain signature in order to verify its legitimacy.<\/p>\n

The same day the miner tweeted: \u201cgood ideas don\u2019t require force\u201d and the following day the group tweeted a message to other miners pointing hashrate at the ABC chain. Voluntarism.dev said:<\/p>\n

\n

I hope all miners agree: we would like 100% of the BCHA coinbase reward to go to pqnqv9lt7e5vjyp0w88zf2af0l92l8rxdgnlxww9j9.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"
The mystery miner Voluntarism.dev has also taken to Github in order to show that the group is serious about the 100% being sent to the IFP address.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Later on that day, the pool tweeted that \u201cthe price of freedom is steep\u201d and also tweeted some screenshots of Bitcoin ABC\u2019s lead developer Amaury S\u00e9chet<\/a> discussing the infrastructure funding plan (IFP).<\/p>\n

\u201cABC violated the (non-aggression principle) NAP with 9 months of civil war,\u201d the Voluntarism.dev Twitter account stressed in another tweet. \u201cFreeriders must pay 100% of the block reward to ABC. We will orphan all blocks that do not. We will pay 100% as well, once ABC merges this change,\u201d the pool added.<\/p>\n

In another statement Voluntarism.dev said:<\/p>\n

\n

The amount of value that ABC stole from [Bitcoin Cash] pales in comparison to our expenditures. We are a group of old-guard miners and whales. We can do this for years. Next time you fork: use your own genesis block, your own PoW [algorithm], and build your own community. [Bitcoin Cash] is protected.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile, between Thursday and Saturday, it took more than 24 hours before any ABC pro-IFP transactions cleared, and the blockchain has suffered a total of two blockchain reorganizations (reorg) to-date. This means after a block has been mined by a miner other than Voluntarism.dev, it\u2019s been reverted and the once confirmed blocks simply disappear. On Saturday morning, there was an attempt to reorg the ABC chain a third time, but it was reverted by the pool Mining Dutch. The mining pool Mining Dutch has managed to process thousands of transactions for senders on Saturday early afternoon (EST).<\/p>\n

\n

@yhaiyang<\/a> idea for you. dump your BCHA holdings into your own customer buy walls, then make it worth $0 (per your risk warning) https:\/\/t.co\/ZFHg17KDZz<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/dVFy4m4rWG<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 voluntarism.dev (@DevVoluntarism) November 27, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Spawn Camp Attack or Enforced Consensus Mechanism?<\/h2>\n

On November 28, 2020, the cofounder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin tweeted about the mystery mining pool that controls 90% of the ABC chain\u2019s hashpower today. \u201c [A] mining pool 51% attacks BCHA seemingly with the explicit goal of destroying it. Will this be the first true spawn camp attack on a PoW chain?\u201d Buterin asked<\/a> his Twitter followers.<\/p>\n

However, the recent empty block attacker is not the first true spawn camp attack on a PoW chain. A Bitcoin clone called Coiledcoin<\/a> appeared in 2012 and it has been said that it was also attacked by hashrate. The BTC<\/a> community accused<\/a> the Core developer, Luke Dash Jr., of leveraging the mining pool Eligius in order to takedown the Coiledcoin project. Software developer Peter Todd spoke about the event<\/a> on Twitter in 2016 when ethereum classic (ETC<\/a>) was threatened by a 51% attack.<\/p>\n

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Screenshot of the first two blockchain reorganizations (reorg).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Friday, in a reply to Buterin\u2019s tweet about the mystery miner, BCH<\/a> proponent, and researcher, Javier Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a> explained that the mining pool\u2019s technique was not an attack. \u201cIt is not an attack, it is defensive,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez said<\/a>. \u201cBitcoin ABC has fractured the BCH<\/a> project to capture 8% of the coinbase miners incentive. 90% of the BCH<\/a> [hashpower] voted against it. And now they are defending their interests. Enforced consensus mechanism,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez insisted.<\/p>\n

\"Hash
Gonz\u00e1lez and others believe the mystery miner is emptying blocks to make it easier to continue the scheme.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

News.Bitcoin.com spoke with Gonz\u00e1lez on Saturday, while the third blockchain reorg attempt took place. Gonz\u00e1lez is also the inventor of the <\/span>Bitcoin Mining Parliament (BMP)<\/span><\/a>, a concept that <\/span>confronts Bitcoin Cash network issues<\/span><\/a> using Nakamoto Consensus. <\/span><\/p>\n

During the morning hours (EST), the mining pools Viabtc and Mining Dutch mined blocks 662396 and 662397. Both of these blocks confirmed thousands of transactions, but again, Voluntarism.dev reorganized the chain with its massive hashpower and the blocks disappeared. Gonz\u00e1lez sources data from the block explorer Blockchair<\/a> and also runs his own ABC pro-IFP node. Although not too long after, confrontational hashpower was able to stop Voluntarism.dev\u2019s third reorg attempt.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first empty block + reorg attack to destroy a minority split attempt (BAB\/BCHA\/ABC) is occurring,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez told news.Bitcoin.com on Saturday. \u201cI think they are a group of miners and BCH<\/a> whales that are acting in coordination to defend the [Bitcoin Cash] blockchain from the split caused by Bitcoin ABC (Amaury) to capture the 8% of the coinbase incentive that belongs to the miners. Gonz\u00e1lez further added:<\/p>\n

\n

Basically, Amaury believes it has the right to break up the project and take the 8% (who knows how much in the future). But that is being denied by hashwar.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Hash<\/p>\n

Mystery Miner\u2019s Third Attempt to Reorg ABC Met With Confrontational Hashpower<\/h2>\n

Gonz\u00e1lez also said that the ABC chain only has two mitigations; either selectively ignore hashpower (total centrality) or change the algorithm in emergency. The researcher further highlighted that the ABC chain has no use and that markets may have to delist the coin. While the mystery miner empties blocks it is also optimizing the assault by making it cheaper Gonz\u00e1lez detailed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are seeing is what I call \u2018executive mining.\u2019 That is, it is not \u2018automatic mining\u2019 following the market incentive, but the miners are following their own brains, spending money, thinking of a bigger future incentive (in this case, it seems to be the defense of BCH<\/a>),\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez emphasized.<\/p>\n

While conversing with the researcher another two blocks were mined by the pool Mining Dutch. Gonz\u00e1lez said that the mystery miner Voluntarism.dev is now being confronted in the hash war. \u201cA large amount of hashrate has reversed the reorg, protecting BAB,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez detailed. Currently, there have been two successful reorganizations and one failed attempt on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

After the two blocks were found by Mining Dutch, Voluntarism.dev mined four blocks after that, the pool said the confrontational hashpower was a \u201cbully\u201d in the following coinbase message. Following the four blocks mined by Voluntarism.dev (662412, 662413, 662414, 662415), Mining Dutch got another two blocks and managed to process transactions.<\/p>\n

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Blockchair\u2019s engine has caught a total of six blockchain reorgs since the initial fork. This is a screenshot of the node log shared by Blockchair founder, Nikita Zhavoronkov on November 28, 2020. <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

** At 6:15 p.m. (EST) Blockchair founder, Nikita Zhavoronkov, said<\/a> his team has caught a total of six blockchain reorganizations on the ABC chain so far. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo far our engine has caught 6 reorgs on <\/span>BCHA<\/span> orphaning 12 blocks in total. Two 1-block reorgs on November 25th, two 2-block reorgs on 26th, a 2-block reorg on 28th, and a 4-block reorg on 28th,\u201d Zhavoronkov tweeted. Actually there\u2019ve been [many] more reorgs, they just happen very fast and our engine misses that. I guess I\u2019d need some kind of a separate log parser for more precise numbers,\u201d Zhavoronkov added<\/a>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As of right now, BCH<\/a> supporters and ABC proponents will be watching the chain with their eyes peeled. So far, it seems the chain is far from functional and the network\u2019s existence going forward is uncertain.<\/p>\n

What do you think about the hash war and the mystery miner? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The post Hash War: Mystery Miner\u2019s Empty Block Attack Makes ABC\u2019s New Blockchain Almost Unusable<\/a> appeared first on Bitcoin News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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According to various reports, the Bitcoin ABC pro-IFP chain has been under \u2018attack\u2019 for a number of consecutive days now. The mystery miner has been mining a great number of sequential blocks, but almost all of them have been empty. The miner who calls himself \u2018Voluntarism.dev\u2019 says the mining operation is a group of \u201cold-guard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52660,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[309],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}