Author

Topic: Selfish Pool Watch (Read 2758 times)

full member
Activity: 226
Merit: 100
November 11, 2013, 10:27:35 AM
#7

Oh this is sick... looks like the gambling site ganna cry..
staff
Activity: 4284
Merit: 8808
sr. member
Activity: 308
Merit: 258
November 11, 2013, 02:58:35 AM
#5
I'm not sure any pool would use it as it undermines bitcoin as a whole and reduces the long term viability of the currency...
We are talking about people.  Wink
sr. member
Activity: 462
Merit: 250
November 08, 2013, 03:08:26 PM
#4
I'm not sure any pool would use it as it undermines bitcoin as a whole and reduces the long term viability of the currency...
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
November 08, 2013, 02:57:54 PM
#3
IMHO GHash.io is a clear candidate.
See http://blockchain.info/es/blocks/GHash.IO last blocks 268570,268571,268572,268573 and the latency between them. See also the orphan blocks it is involved.
See also the fork after block 268201, GHash.IO beat the competition with blocks 268202,268203 and 268204 in a row.
legendary
Activity: 1946
Merit: 1006
Bitcoin / Crypto mining Hardware.
November 08, 2013, 02:16:26 PM
#2
pools which come out of a bad-luck period followed by a very good-luck spree, especially if two or more blocks are solved back to back instantly may qualify.
newbie
Activity: 50
Merit: 0
November 08, 2013, 01:03:44 PM
#1
I think we can all agree that a centralized one-world mining pool is something to avoid.  Thus, let's use this thread as a place to mark potential selfish-pools before they gain too much momentum to be stopped.  

Warning Signs:  (Here are some warning signs that a pool has started using the Selfish Mining Protocol)
1) Drop in the blocks produced by the selfish pool as they build up their private chain and submit more orphan blocks in the beginning.  
2) Increase in orphan blocks by honest pools as the selfish pool releases their private block(s) immediately after the honest block was mined.
3) Drop in the global hash rate as consequences of #1 and #2.
4) Increase in the proportion of sequential blocks submitted by the selfish pool as they submit multiple blocks at a time to stay ahead of honest blocks.
5) Potential candidates should have had >= 25% of the network before going selfish.

Questions
1) What other indicators can we look for?  
2) Do you see signs that a pool is currently selfish-mining?  
3) What can we do if it becomes clear that a pool is selfish mining to prevent them from coming into power?  I.E. What are the best arguments to convince a miner to move from a selfish-mining pool to a (temporarily) less-profitable honest pool?

Let us be watchful!
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