The Bitcoin Cash ( BCH Under normal circumstances, the blockchain produces about six blocks each hour. However, the recent actions of an anonymous entity, which was mining as many as twelve BCH blocks hourly, have led the community to ponder over the unexpected pace.
Initially, two dominant theories emerged: one being a potential consensus attack, and the other being the idea that a miner, or group, was tactically switching from Bitcoin (BTC) to BCH to optimize profits, consequently causing irregularities in the 32 MB spinoff's difficulty adjustment algorithm meant to ensure a consistent ten-minute block time.
As more insight has been gleaned, the latter hypothesis seems to most accurately account for the strange mining trends.
Challenges have surfaced in BCH mining, possibly linked to the difficulty retargeting algorithm, and it seems one miner now predominantly controls mining operations.
I'm eager to uncover the underlying cause of these events. Does anyone have further information? https://t.co/6la25oM8lx
— Andreas (aantonop) (@aantonop) October 27, 2019
The curious case came to greater public light after Andreas Antonopoulos, a renowned Bitcoin and blockchain scholar, highlighted an October 26th discussion on Twitter, originally published on hash.fail—a revamped version of the Zerononcense blog curated by blockchain researcher and security expert James Edwards.
“That’s Absurd”
Upon examination, hash.fail outlined that at the core of the anomaly, with the identifier qqq9v3hhl0vga8w5cts6dx5aa8xep2v2ssvppp5xcn, there were juggernaut coinbase rewards, strongly implying that the linked entities were functioning in harmony. address hash.fail cited this address’s “staggering rate” of coinbase rewards – the current 12.5 BCH bounty for generating new blocks – amassed on October 26th within just two hours, as evidence of its unorthodox mining power.
utilizes a distinct difficulty retargeting algorithm compared to (diff formula), yet both aim to maintain a steady ten-minute interval for block generation.
6a/ $BCH The expected norm should yield six blocks per hour, on average. $BTC hash.fail advised caution until they achieve resolution, indicating that Bitcoin Cash developers are aware of the predicament but see it as largely beyond their control.
Fascinatingly, soon after this analysis surfaced, the qqq9v3... address ceased to accumulate coinbase rewards—after seemingly unbroken collection since its first reward emerged on September 16, 2019.
— James Edwards (@librehash) October 26, 2019
In response to Andreas Antonopoulos's query for more details, the pseudonymous Zawy referenced research they had released a month prior, titled “
Notable Oscillations in Simple Moving Averages
Rather a Case of Bad Oscillation?
Zawy, an electrical engineer hailed as a trailblazer by peers from Komodo Platform for their expertise in As challenging Difficulty Adjustment Algorithms, argued that Bitcoin Cash's difficulty formula's oscillations caused the peculiar activity. BCH Needs a New DA ” and “ According to Zawy’s study, the heart of the issue lies in Bitcoin Cash's current difficulty calculation style, a Simple Moving Average (SMA). .”
“This results from miners having (likely unknowingly) discerned a beneficial oscillating method, hinged on the SMA window size,” the expert opined, contrasting potential benefits of a Linear Weighted Moving Average (LWMA) method as a more robust alternative against manipulation. Reverse Nakamoto Consensus During a related dialogue on October 28th with ProgPow developer Kristy-Leigh Minehan, Zawy put forth specific amendments to counteract the poor oscillations, such as incorporating what they called an LWMA mechanism, while emphasizing that mining malfeasance could largely lessen by adjusting difficulty in real-time.
My proposal suggests modifying difficulty during the block creation process, based on the timestamp provided by the miner in the header. Nodes and previous blocks impose a limited scope on this timestamp. Should the miner desire to increase difficulty by 5% over several blocks, they can adjust upwards...
“Your [LWMA] solution does appear promising,” Minehan acknowledged.
The future of adopting an LWMA strategy in Bitcoin Cash is uncertain, as it necessitates consensus among the diverse community members involved.
Apart from the buzz around the recent mining phenomenon, these same community members are engaging in discourse about the anticipated November 15th Bitcoin Cash upgrade, promising to introduce complex multi-signature capabilities and more.
— zawy (@zawy3) October 28, 2019
William M. Peaster is an established writer and editor focusing on Ethereum, Dai, and Bitcoin within the cryptoeconomy realm. His work has been showcased in Blockonomi, Binance Academy, Bitsonline, among other platforms. He’s enthusiastic about smart contracts, DAOs, dApps, and the Lightning Network. Besides, he's diving into learning Solidity! Reach out on Telegram at @wmpeaster
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