"Bitcoin" Unlimited Officially #REKT

[iCEBREAKER]

The Bitcoin Civil War has suddenly come to a stunning surprise conclusion.  It's all over except for the shouting and crying.

tl;dr Bitmain is ripping off the network by secretly faking proof of work, and blocking segwit because it will stop their rent-seeking strategy of covert cheating.

[bitcoin-dev] BIP proposal: Inhibiting a covert attack on the Bitcoin POW function

Gregory Maxwell greg at xiph.org
Wed Apr 5 21:37:45 UTC 2017

A month ago I was explaining the attack on Bitcoin's SHA2 hashcash which
is exploited by ASICBOOST and the various steps which could be used to
block it in the network if it became a problem.

While most discussion of ASICBOOST has focused on the overt method
of implementing it, there also exists a covert method for using it.

As I explained one of the approaches to inhibit covert ASICBOOST I
realized that my words were pretty much also describing the SegWit
commitment structure.

The authors of the SegWit proposal made a specific effort to not be
incompatible with any mining system and, in particular, changed the
design at one point to accommodate mining chips with forced payout
addresses.

Had there been awareness of exploitation of this attack an effort
would have been made to avoid incompatibility-- simply to separate
concerns.  But the best methods of implementing the covert attack
are significantly incompatible with virtually any method of
extending Bitcoin's transaction capabilities; with the notable
exception of extension blocks (which have their own problems).

An incompatibility would go a long way to explain some of the
more inexplicable behavior from some parties in the mining
ecosystem so I began looking for supporting evidence.

Reverse engineering of a particular mining chip has demonstrated
conclusively that ASICBOOST has been implemented
in hardware.

==Motivation==

Due to a design oversight the Bitcoin proof of work function has a potential
attack which can allow an attacking miner to save up-to 30% of their energy
costs (though closer to 20% is more likely due to implementation overheads).

Timo Hanke and Sergio Demian Lerner claim to hold a patent on this attack,
which they have so far not licensed for free and open use by the public.
They have been marketing their patent licenses under the trade-name
ASICBOOST.  The document takes no position on the validity or enforceability
of the patent.

There are two major ways of exploiting the underlying vulnerability: One
obvious way which is highly detectable and is not in use on the network
today and a covert way which has significant interaction and potential
interference with the Bitcoin protocol.  The covert mechanism is not
easily detected except through its interference with the protocol.

In particular, the protocol interactions of the covert method can block the
implementation of virtuous improvements such as segregated witness.

Exploitation of this vulnerability could result in payoff of as much as
$100 million USD per year at the time this was written (Assuming at
50% hash-power miner was gaining a 30% power advantage and that mining
was otherwise at profit equilibrium).  This could have a phenomenal
centralizing effect by pushing mining out of profitability for all
other participants, and the income from secretly using this
optimization could be abused to significantly distort the Bitcoin
ecosystem in order to preserve the advantage.

Reverse engineering of a mining ASIC from a major manufacture has
revealed that it contains an undocumented, undisclosed ability
to make use of this attack. (The parties claiming to hold a
patent on this technique were completely unaware of this use.)

On the above basis the potential for covert exploitation of this
vulnerability and the resulting inequality in the mining process
and interference with useful improvements presents a clear and
present danger to the Bitcoin system which requires a response.

If you’re a longtime Bitcoin user this should piss you off.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a “big blocker” or “small blocker”—a silly distinction in my book, in the long run everyone admits we’ll need bigger blocks, it’s just a matter of when we’ll get there.

They have purposefully misled the Bitcoin community, championing false causes just to keep their temporary mining advantage at the expense of necessary upgrades to keep Bitcoin competitive.

_{"You fought in the Blocksize Wars?"
"Yes, I was once a Bitcoin Wizard, the same as your father."}





#rekt

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[Xester]

Is this really the end for bitmain and Bitcoin Unlimited? Are they really cheating and doing something unwanted against the bitcoin system? These are just some of the questions I would like to search for but eventually all I can see in the forum was the collision of groups and that BU and bitmain were the evil empire trying to take and invade bitcoin country.

[DGulari]

Is this really the end for bitmain and Bitcoin Unlimited? Are they really cheating and doing something unwanted against the bitcoin system? These are just some of the questions I would like to search for but eventually all I can see in the forum was the collision of groups and that BU and bitmain were the evil empire trying to take and invade bitcoin country.

It is more dirty nonsense by the Blockstream bastards who want to own Bitcoin for themselves.  Sort of a last desparate attempt to regain some lost ground.  Don't worry, it won't work.  Nobody is fooled.  Jihan should hash away as best as he can and so should anyone else.  If he boosts his ASIC, so be it.  Totally fair.  The others can boost theirs too.

[aarturka]

remarkably, markets react very possitively on the recent disclosure of con Jihan's schemes. Investors anticipate the disgraceful end of BTU  

[aarturka]

It is more dirty nonsense by the Blockstream bastards who want to own Bitcoin for themselves.  Sort of a last desparate attempt to regain some lost ground.  Don't worry, it won't work.  Nobody is fooled.  Jihan should hash away as best as he can and so should anyone else.  If he boosts his ASIC, so be it.  Totally fair.  The others can boost theirs too.

What's that? Who conducted Internet to the mental hospital?

[iCEBREAKER]

Is this really the end for bitmain and Bitcoin Unlimited? Are they really cheating and doing something unwanted against the bitcoin system? These are just some of the questions I would like to search for but eventually all I can see in the forum was the collision of groups and that BU and bitmain were the evil empire trying to take and invade bitcoin country.

This will provide the answers you seek: https://medium.com/@cincinnati/bitmains-chickens-have-come-home-to-asicroost-3af92495e02

[Paashaas]

I love youre firework pic Icebreaker, i always knew someday this disgusting hostile take over will end like that.

[paul gatt]

Maybe they were really cheating, maybe they were jealous of bitcoin, so they did it against bitcoin. That is a very bad and evil thing. Perhaps this is the end of bitcoin unlimit, there is no longer anything to believe in it. BU is like an aggressor trying to take over fertile land, which has existed and developed for a long time, bitcoin is its name. A great effort, with careful planning and meticulousness, however, it can not succeed, they can not complete the mind, and the secret has been exposed. Great, let's celebrate those bitcoin lovers.

[mindrust]

So what can an average bitcoin user  do about this?

We already don't like retarded Jihan and his lapdog. We don't buy their products (or we can't), we don't want any fork to be happened, yet Wutang still owns the majority of the hashpower.

I mean we know that they malicious to the community, but are they going to get away with this scam?

[manselr]

Jihan Wu's reputation is objectively over, but make no mistake! /r/btc braindead morons will defend Jihan, Roger and BU until the end. No amount of facts will make them change their minds. They are part of a brainwashed cult.

[cr1776]

Is this really the end for bitmain and Bitcoin Unlimited? Are they really cheating and doing something unwanted against the bitcoin system? These are just some of the questions I would like to search for but eventually all I can see in the forum was the collision of groups and that BU and bitmain were the evil empire trying to take and invade bitcoin country.

It is more dirty nonsense by the Blockstream bastards who want to own Bitcoin for themselves.  Sort of a last desparate attempt to regain some lost ground.  Don't worry, it won't work.  Nobody is fooled.  Jihan should hash away as best as he can and so should anyone else.  If he boosts his ASIC, so be it.  Totally fair.  The others can boost theirs too.

Before commenting one should at least be conversant with the topic.  Clearly you are not, and clearly you are fooled.

I would give you some links about what "boosts his ASIC" is, but if you search on "ASICBOOST" and "patent" you might learn something about it in general and then look at the difference between overt and covert usage.  

If you truly want bitcoin mining to be centralized, then please use fiat.

[K128kevin2]

I love youre firework pic Icebreaker, i always knew someday this disgusting hostile take over will end like that.

Yep, I wish they'd fork off into ChinaCoin to leave our precious chain alone.

[ahmedjamal1998]

All that I've ever known about BU is through the forums here and all I got about it is that it's the evil thing whose owner is trying to take over the bitcoin world somehow.

Reading this makes so much sense for me now. So he was exploiting smth , and getting ppl on his side making them  believe that his project is better but in fact he's ripping everyone off.

Looks like an amazing Hollywood movies. 

[Carlton Banks]

So what can an average bitcoin user  do about this?

Hopefully, the preventative change to remove the closed-source ASIC Boost advantage (currently in a work in progress) will reduce Bitmain's hashrate enough to push Segwit above a 51% signalling rate. No miner likes the orphaning risk that 51% signalling of any BIP represents, so BIP 9 (Segwit) might get enough of a boost from the Anti-ASIC Boost BIP that Bitmain will lose 20-30% of their hashrate, and Segwit signallers will fill the gap.

With Segwit at over 30% now, I would expect alot of the miners and pools who represent the holdouts to finally get on board (node support is now over 60%). And maybe even former BU miners/pools will switch, now that BU is officially dead in the water. That makes the prospects for 51% Segwit acceptance pretty good today, so even UASF might be unneeded, the miners might yet activate Segwit.

[franky1]

Hopefully, push Segwit above a 51% signalling rate.

oh just to point out something

meanwhile bitcoins segwit 31% block flagging is only temporary due to a hack expect it to drop back down below 30% in the next fortnight

https://twitter.com/f2pool_wangchun/status/848582740798611456

Wang Chun‏ @f2pool_wangchun

Someone hacked major mining operations and their stratum had been changed from antpool, viabtc, btctop to us. Our hashrate doubled instantly

10:07 am - 2 Apr 2017

[lurker10]

tl;dr Bitmain is ripping off the network by secretly faking proof of work, and blocking segwit because it will stop their rent-seeking strategy of covert cheating.

So the blocks that Bitmain creates are fake by the Bitcoin protocol standards? Wow.
Congratulations, you've reached a new low in lying.

[Slipknot79]

Oh well, it's all a facade, the more this pantomime continues the weaker bitcoin seems.
Let's stop with these pathetic threads and carry on.

[Meuh6879]

We don't have problem here.













Look, it's a star ... it's BU fail event.

[franky1]

We don't have problem here.

i think your spider is going in circles around the web. its counting the same nodes over and over.

but hey, you used colour. so that it can gain attention and make the sheep smile

[Kprawn]

The most shocking thing about this is --> " $100 million USD per year could have been earned extra through this exploit. I think the other mining

pools can really feel pissed off with this "cheating" going on in the mining scene. The real loss is the people who exploited the whole standoff by

spamming the network and chasing new adopters away.