It has been nearly 4 years since BTC Guild and Bitminter were hit by block withholding attacks.
In both cases the pool operator ignored the situation until I started screaming. To Eulethria's credit, he at least following up on the obvious test I suggested of checking for large users who had never solved a block. Dr.Haribo never bothered to respond except for an ill advised attempt to attack me, which he quickly withdrew when he realized I had been the largest hasher on his pool for 3 years.
I don't understand why pool operators haven't built in defenses for this kind of issue. Stratum could have been revised to allow for validation work to be sent at random intervals. There are a few other options I can think of as well but I won't speculate.
I doubt Kano's current run of bad luck is the result of a withholder, and it very well could be just bad luck. If it was me, I would be creating a new payment address to hash against.
Bitcoin proof of work is a $2B / year industry. If there are vulnerabilities someone will exploit them. It would be a worthwhile exercise to make a list of attack scenarios and then consider defenses / tests to eliminate the possibly that each exploit is in play.
Topic: Pool Scam...? (Read 738 times)
Also a fair playing field is supposed and all pools should do just under 100% luck lifetime, but if a pool like antpool which is known to be able to do asic boost has other boosting abilities then
asic boost they can do 105 or 110 or 115 percent luck. So their good luck will lower the luck of an honest pool operator.
No, this is wrong. Asicboost increases power efficiency, it has zero effect on hashrate and luck. Also one pool's hashing has absolutely no effect on another pool's hashing. asic boost they can do 105 or 110 or 115 percent luck. So their good luck will lower the luck of an honest pool operator.
It is absolutely necessary to be investigated well before being included in a pool or it is inevitable that troubles will be experienced. Even the pools which we said well are able to make problems with the users. There can be great losses because there is no legal sanction when the problem is experienced.
As some pools go through low periods, loyal supporters attribute it to 'bad luck' and encourage miners who are getting cold feet to hang in there and wait it out.
Some frustrated people, however, are quick to point fingers and blame the operator to the pool in question for being dishonest and literally label the pool as a scam.
What I am trying to understand, however, in what way could there be a scam? i.e. how could an operator profit from a non-performing pool, especially as it is impossible to hide results, as every single block mined on the blockchain can be easily verified?
Could it technically be possible to 'hijack' the hash power into a different pool and rake in the benefits in secret? I am not suggesting this may be the case, just wondering if it were possible, if there were malicious intent?
Some frustrated people, however, are quick to point fingers and blame the operator to the pool in question for being dishonest and literally label the pool as a scam.
What I am trying to understand, however, in what way could there be a scam? i.e. how could an operator profit from a non-performing pool, especially as it is impossible to hide results, as every single block mined on the blockchain can be easily verified?
Could it technically be possible to 'hijack' the hash power into a different pool and rake in the benefits in secret? I am not suggesting this may be the case, just wondering if it were possible, if there were malicious intent?
No skimming by a pool operator other then a service such as nicehash is not easy to do,
but other pools and or miners can attack pools in many ways. Also a fair playing field is supposed and all pools should do just under 100% luck lifetime, but if a pool like antpool which is known to be able to do asic boost has other boosting abilities then
asic boost they can do 105 or 110 or 115 percent luck. So their good luck will lower the luck of an honest pool operator.
Sending dead hash to a pool has been done more then one time. So the pool preforms poorly. This was done to BTC Guild.
They did 80% luck for quite a while.
As some pools go through low periods, loyal supporters attribute it to 'bad luck' and encourage miners who are getting cold feet to hang in there and wait it out.
Some frustrated people, however, are quick to point fingers and blame the operator to the pool in question for being dishonest and literally label the pool as a scam.
What I am trying to understand, however, in what way could there be a scam? i.e. how could an operator profit from a non-performing pool, especially as it is impossible to hide results, as every single block mined on the blockchain can be easily verified?
Could it technically be possible to 'hijack' the hash power into a different pool and rake in the benefits in secret? I am not suggesting this may be the case, just wondering if it were possible, if there were malicious intent?
Some frustrated people, however, are quick to point fingers and blame the operator to the pool in question for being dishonest and literally label the pool as a scam.
What I am trying to understand, however, in what way could there be a scam? i.e. how could an operator profit from a non-performing pool, especially as it is impossible to hide results, as every single block mined on the blockchain can be easily verified?
Could it technically be possible to 'hijack' the hash power into a different pool and rake in the benefits in secret? I am not suggesting this may be the case, just wondering if it were possible, if there were malicious intent?
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