[2017-08-25 Antpool, ASICBOOST Share Blame for Bitcoin Network Delays

[Slow death]

Antpool, ASICBOOST Share Blame for Bitcoin Network Delays

Bitcoin (BTC) transaction delays and fees are increasingly thought to be the result of Antpool mining empty blocks.

Multiple reports surfacing on social media pin the blame for the slow rate of approvals on miners deliberately not including SegWit transactions.




The practice would cut capacity, increasing waiting times and driving up fees.

Data from Blockchain.info on blocks found post-SegWit activation suggests Antpool, the largest Bitcoin mining pool, is circumventing SegWit transactions despite losing revenue.

“Normally miners will confirm as many transactions as they can, because when they confirm one they earn the transaction fees from that transaction,” one explanation reads.


“Antpool has given up $100,000+ in transaction fees in the last 24 hours alone by not confirming as many transactions as they can.”

The figure calculated by one Reddit user suggests Antpool missed out on $102,400 in fees in the past 24 hours alone.

The motivation behind boycotting SegWit transactions lies in suspected use of ASICBOOST by miners, a function which manufacturer Bitmain had previously denounced.

“[Using ASICBOOST], however profitable, is not something we would do for the greater good of Bitcoin,” the company wrote in a blog post in April.


https://cointelegraph.com/news/antpool-asicboost-share-blame-for-bitcoin-network-delays

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[BitHodler]

Antpool is losing its head, seriously. First priority of miners is to generate as much income as possible, but them on purposely missing out on so much fee income is just ridiculous.

If they continue to behave like this, it won't take a whole lot of time before the majority of the community starts spitting on them ~ this just shows that they have a hidden agenda they try to execute at cost of the users.

If they don't like SegWit, then why don't they just remove themselves from Bitcoin to purely focus on BCC? Oh wait, BCC is nothing more than a shitcoin that doesn't enjoy any actual usage.

[Iranus]

This is confusing as hell.  If they're not going to mine SegWit transactions, why would they signal for SegWit and join in with the New York Agreement?

Either it means that they want to make the November block size increase appear more necessary, or that they are categorically opposed to SegWit as a soft fork at all.  It could be some innocent mistake, but it doesn't seem likely.

For now, mempools are still large and Antpool needs to stop ignoring people's transactions.

[1Referee]

For now, mempools are still large and Antpool needs to stop ignoring people's transactions.

My node's mempool has grown to +90K transactions as we speak, and I am fairly confident that it'll be breaking through the 100K mark once again. It's utterly frustrating that a poisonous entity as Antpool is (still) working against Bitcoin. The main reason for them to support Segwit, was that they have agreed on the Segwit2x proposal to be part of the deal, and thus could prevent Segwit from activating through UASF. Essentially, they are heavily against Segwit, and that shows as they completely wiped out the entire Segwit code from Bitcoin Cash.

[joshy23]

I think they are intentionally sabotaging it by not supporting Segwit which they have agreed upon initially. You can't really comprehend what those guys are really doing. They are the worst mining company right now but the thing is that they have so much mining power and it seems that they are manipulating to increase the transaction fees or they are really pro-BCH. I just shake my head reading this because they are contradicting themselves. Anti-Segwit or Pro-Segwit? For me they are anti-Segwit to begin with and they have their own agenda 'intentionally' not mining using Segwit which they agreed upon in the first place.

[Clement Kaliyar]

So this is the main reason the bitcoin network is suffering in the past few days,i was wondering what on earth is causing this delays even with the total number of transactions per day have reduced and yet the transaction fees and the waiting time keeps on increasing,so what will be the larger impact of these move,i am really confused.

[hatshepsut93]

I think they are intentionally sabotaging it by not supporting Segwit which they have agreed upon initially. You can't really comprehend what those guys are really doing. They are the worst mining company right now but the thing is that they have so much mining power and it seems that they are manipulating to increase the transaction fees or they are really pro-BCH. I just shake my head reading this because they are contradicting themselves. Anti-Segwit or Pro-Segwit? For me they are anti-Segwit to begin with and they have their own agenda 'intentionally' not mining using Segwit which they agreed upon in the first place.

I'm not sure that there is any rational explanation to why they are intentionally mining empty/smaller blocks. If they are protesting against SegWit/try to pump BCH, than they are losing a good amount of BTC in fees while not achieving anything - BTC price is relatively stable, no one is seriously adopting BCH, as it's just a coin for FUDing, mining manipulation and pump & dumping. If they are trying to pump fees, they are probably still in loss, since their competitors who mine full blocks benefit more from this. So, either there's some hidden motive, or it's ASICboost in action, or they have some faulty software.