I have a question about the decentralised mining model proposition for this coin- I get the fundamentals, I really do since I currently mine DRK over p2p, but how easy is it for one massive miner with a few GPUs, or even a botnet of CPU miners to take over the hashing power? Can the argument be made that non pooled mining might decrease the centralisation problem, but that solo mining makes the payoff for the miner an unknown quantity? Even if you are a small miner in a centralised pool system your payments for securing the network can be earned simply because you share the pool with a massive farm based mining operation; they find a block, you still win, you find a block and they still win. It may be centralised, which there are legitimate arguments against, but it also introduces certainty for the miner.
Yet, with spread, securing the blockchain becomes a task in which there is no certain payout. There is no sharing of rewards to secure the blockchain, i.e, eventually the majority of spreadcoin will be made up of big miners as the little ones will just move onto another crypto that pays out. So instead of decentralising the mining across the board, we have single entities who make it a zero sum game for smaller miners who might want to get in on spread. I say this as someone who has tried to mine the coin for a day and have not been paid out. Now I know variance exists and some days I might get very fortunate and get a couple of blocks, but the point is there is no incentive for the network to be made up of small miners and centralises distribution in the hands of the few big ones. I know the more hashrate you have the bigger piece you should get, but in a regular pool environment even the smallest miner will get a piece of that pie-in this environment it's win or lose. Please don't see this as bashing the coin, I find the concept with this coin extremely enticing, but just imagine me as a potential miner and try to convince me to join up, explain how the end-game mining model would look for this coin later on.
After mining spread for 24 hours with my 7950 I found no blocks. Mining DRK (I have no animosity to Spread as I am mainly a DRK miner) there were a few blocks found in that same time period over p2p.
Long term you will make just as much solo mining, probably more as there are no fees involved. If you are only interested in short term dumping to BTC/fiat then this is not the currency for you.
Mining's primary goal is to secure the blockchain, not guarantee miner income. Some people have more hashpower and will thus earn more, same as any other cryptocurrency, regardless of whether they mine via a pool or solo - I'm not seeing how that situation is any better or worse with Spread than anything else. Spread just eliminates the risk of centralised bad actors.
Without guarantee of income, what incentive is there for mining? Securing the blockchain is pointless if there is no reward for doing so? And no, I am not dumping my mined coins(even though I should have, would have been able to buy a lot more of them back if I had).
Also, there are little to no fees with p2p mining as well, but that decentralises the network and somewhat secures continuous reward. At this point in time my biggest method of generating coins for myself is to mine them and not buy them, so that is what I do so to be told that mining is not meant for income seems incongruous since without us there is no coin at all. I guess what I am trying to say is that as a miner, you know, the people who secure the network and make it so that transactions can be conducted, are not really benefiting if they have to mine an "hope" they find blocks.
Is there any chart that shows mining hashrate distribution by address?
