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[Jammalan the Prophet]

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[TheButterZone]

Doing what? They haven't just been mining empty blocks, but from 481828 onward they haven't been been filling them up as consistently as before either.

[stompix]

Since block:
481798 (Main Chain)   2017-08-23 22:32:01 https://blockchain.info/block-height/481798  they have mined just one full block (481919).

1/20 or so, the message is quite clear. We don't give a damn about transactions.

Not really a war since they haven't yet mined 0 blocks after 0 blocks but I could still call this a garbage tactic to drive up fees or put pressure on BTC.

But after all it's Bitmain behind Antpool , isn't it?
If I were a miner I would pull out my miners from there and direct them somewhere else.

Doing what? They haven't just been mining empty blocks, but from 481828 onward they haven't been been filling them up as consistently as before either.

They are the only ones doing this:

https://blockchain.info/en/blocks/BTC.com
https://blockchain.info/en/blocks/BTC.TOP
https://blockchain.info/en/blocks/BTCC%20Pool
https://blockchain.info/en/blocks/ViaBTC
https://blockchain.info/en/blocks/GBMiners
https://blockchain.info/en/blocks/Bixin

[Sithara007]

Since block:
481798 (Main Chain)   2017-08-23 22:32:01 https://blockchain.info/block-height/481798  they have mined just one full block (481919).

1/20 or so, the message is quite clear. We don't give a damn about transactions.

Not really a war since they haven't yet mined 0 blocks after 0 blocks but I could still call this a garbage tactic to drive up fees or put pressure on BTC.

But after all it's Bitmain behind Antpool , isn't it?
If I were a miner I would pull out my miners from there and direct them somewhere else.

Doing what? They haven't just been mining empty blocks, but from 481828 onward they haven't been been filling them up as consistently as before either.

They are the only ones doing this:

https://blockchain.info/en/blocks/BTC.com
https://blockchain.info/en/blocks/BTC.TOP
https://blockchain.info/en/blocks/BTCC%20Pool
https://blockchain.info/en/blocks/ViaBTC
https://blockchain.info/en/blocks/GBMiners
https://blockchain.info/en/blocks/Bixin

So Antpool is trying to pump up Bitcoin Cash and destroy Bitcoin? I checked the latest block mined by them (481925). They rejected all the trasactions with a fee of less than 100 Sat/Byte.

[Hijikata]

Miners becoming banks.
Charging you for your own money.
Seen it before.

[13abyknight]

This isn't the fight time Bitcoin is coming across an enemy but it definitely seems like the hands behind Antpool, Bitmain is trying to get a grip around the transaction fees by barely caring for the transactions. This also seems like an upright attempt to pump BCH while trying to devalue Bitcoin but on the longer run, this won't work.

[Kakmakr]

I hope the Russians can get the money to establish new mining farms to compete with these Chinese miners. They have not shown good faith at all and the sooner we get rid of them the better. The UK and USA are sitting on their hands and they have all the resources to compete with these Chinese mining farms.

I hope the AMD & NVIDIA cards will boost mining hash power globally and people would be able to break the Chinese monopoly on Bitcoin mining. ^grrrrrrrr^

[induktor]

This is what happens when you mine with asics.

asics can only be purchased by big pools, that can place enormous orders on chip manufacturers and get them first, so they only will have the advantage, making a centralized business controlled by a selected few.

which is what is going on now.
and this tactic they're using is just the beginning.

if you want bitcoin to survive long term, the PoW algo must change, making them adaptive, so asics will never be possible, only GPU mining.

GPU is an off the shelf product, scales linearly, and anyone have the same amount of access to it, levels the plain-field for everyone, and decentralize, i mean, TRULY decentralize mining.

finally, there is no "good faith" when it comes to make money, only greed IMHO.

[dothebeats]

I hope the Russians can get the money to establish new mining farms to compete with these Chinese miners. They have not shown good faith at all and the sooner we get rid of them the better. The UK and USA are sitting on their hands and they have all the resources to compete with these Chinese mining farms.

^grrrrrrrr^

Chinese miners have much easier access to hardware and cheap electricity that's why the Western miners seem to be trailing behind the mining game. This is the first time I wanted Americans to excel something at, but unfortunately most are only focusing on trading and mining is just a distant memory in the past.

I hope the AMD & NVIDIA cards will boost mining hash power globally and people would be able to break the Chinese monopoly on Bitcoin mining.

GPUs nowadays are incapable of delivering significant results in terms of hashing power. Though it can still hash other coins effectively with a different algorithm, I still can't see its feasibility on mining SHA-256 based coins such as bitcoins. Leave it to the ASICs.

[Pursuer]

I hope the Russians can get the money to establish new mining farms to compete with these Chinese miners. They have not shown good faith at all and the sooner we get rid of them the better. The UK and USA are sitting on their hands and they have all the resources to compete with these Chinese mining farms.

^grrrrrrrr^

Chinese miners have much easier access to hardware and cheap electricity that's why the Western miners seem to be trailing behind the mining game. This is the first time I wanted Americans to excel something at, but unfortunately most are only focusing on trading and mining is just a distant memory in the past.

what @Kakmakr is pointing out is a news which came out a while ago about a Russian hardware manufacturing company that is going to start producing ASIC miners for mining bitcoin. and if they succeed in building something as efficient or even better, it can change many things. it will increase the hashrate and also create a big competition and eventually increases the decentralization of mining.

[induktor]

I hope the Russians can get the money to establish new mining farms to compete with these Chinese miners. They have not shown good faith at all and the sooner we get rid of them the better. The UK and USA are sitting on their hands and they have all the resources to compete with these Chinese mining farms.

^grrrrrrrr^

Chinese miners have much easier access to hardware and cheap electricity that's why the Western miners seem to be trailing behind the mining game. This is the first time I wanted Americans to excel something at, but unfortunately most are only focusing on trading and mining is just a distant memory in the past.

I hope the AMD & NVIDIA cards will boost mining hash power globally and people would be able to break the Chinese monopoly on Bitcoin mining.

GPUs nowadays are incapable of delivering significant results in terms of hashing power. Though it can still hash other coins effectively with a different algorithm, I still can't see its feasibility on mining SHA-256 based coins such as bitcoins. Leave it to the ASICs.

That's why i am talking about changing the PoW algorithm, SHA256 is obsolete at this point, a more complex algo, like criptonight or   equihash is needed, and that is GPU territory only.

[pinkflower]

What advantages would Antpool gain if they keep doing this? Sooner or later they would need to start filling up those blocks again. They cant act like a little child forever.

[dothebeats]

I hope the Russians can get the money to establish new mining farms to compete with these Chinese miners. They have not shown good faith at all and the sooner we get rid of them the better. The UK and USA are sitting on their hands and they have all the resources to compete with these Chinese mining farms.

^grrrrrrrr^

Chinese miners have much easier access to hardware and cheap electricity that's why the Western miners seem to be trailing behind the mining game. This is the first time I wanted Americans to excel something at, but unfortunately most are only focusing on trading and mining is just a distant memory in the past.

what @Kakmakr is pointing out is a news which came out a while ago about a Russian hardware manufacturing company that is going to start producing ASIC miners for mining bitcoin. and if they succeed in building something as efficient or even better, it can change many things. it will increase the hashrate and also create a big competition and eventually increases the decentralization of mining.

Haven't heard of it yet but would be checking them out now. The Chinese are really on the top of their game as of this moment seeing that again, almost all of the ASIC manufacturers hail from their country and before they ship it out, they would mine the hell out of the coin first to produce some hefty profits. It would be good if the Russians succeed in the ASIC manufacturing business and produce better hardware since that will—at the least—create a little diversification of hash rate distribution which is heavily situated in China alone.

That's why i am talking about changing the PoW algorithm, SHA256 is obsolete at this point, a more complex algo, like criptonight or   equihash is needed, and that is GPU territory only.

I'm also looking forward to an algorithm change. As time passes, SHA-256 becomes more power hungry and hashing it out is also becoming more expensive, defeating the purpose of decentralized mining. Other algos that heavily utiliz GPUs could change the game again, seeing that almost all of us here have working PCs with video cards installed.

[krishnapramod]

I hope the Russians can get the money to establish new mining farms to compete with these Chinese miners. They have not shown good faith at all and the sooner we get rid of them the better. The UK and USA are sitting on their hands and they have all the resources to compete with these Chinese mining farms.

^grrrrrrrr^

Chinese miners have much easier access to hardware and cheap electricity that's why the Western miners seem to be trailing behind the mining game. This is the first time I wanted Americans to excel something at, but unfortunately most are only focusing on trading and mining is just a distant memory in the past.

I hope the AMD & NVIDIA cards will boost mining hash power globally and people would be able to break the Chinese monopoly on Bitcoin mining.

GPUs nowadays are incapable of delivering significant results in terms of hashing power. Though it can still hash other coins effectively with a different algorithm, I still can't see its feasibility on mining SHA-256 based coins such as bitcoins. Leave it to the ASICs.

That's why i am talking about changing the PoW algorithm, SHA256 is obsolete at this point, a more complex algo, like criptonight or   equihash is needed, and that is GPU territory only.

A PoW change would be a hardfork. Upgrading to a CPU/GPU based algorithm would put ASIC based centralization to an end. With the current turn of events, PoW change does make some sense, but wouldn't not be a logical approach. Centralization by Chinese mining pools is obvious, but still there has to be some good miners, Core is against hardforks, changing the algorithm would seem like a centralized move by the devs against the miners, a controversial approach. Is there any guarantee that changing PoW wouldn't lead to miner centralization in future?

Luke-jr had suggested a PoW upgrade, https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1833391.0

http://btcpowupdate.org

[alyssa85]

This is what happens when you mine with asics.

asics can only be purchased by big pools, that can place enormous orders on chip manufacturers and get them first, so they only will have the advantage, making a centralized business controlled by a selected few.

which is what is going on now.
and this tactic they're using is just the beginning.

if you want bitcoin to survive long term, the PoW algo must change, making them adaptive, so asics will never be possible, only GPU mining.

GPU is an off the shelf product, scales linearly, and anyone have the same amount of access to it, levels the plain-field for everyone, and decentralize, i mean, TRULY decentralize mining.

finally, there is no "good faith" when it comes to make money, only greed IMHO.

Or you know, people can use alts which use GPU mining. There is now a huge choice out there, and people should use the coin that makes the most sense for them.

[Iranus]

A PoW change would be a hardfork. Upgrading to a CPU/GPU based algorithm would put ASIC based centralization to an end.

I don't see why that's true.  Seems like it would just mean that some company produces the most efficient GPU instead of most efficient ASIC miner and then there can be centralisation of that instead.  Sure, small miners could get involved but they would still be mining at big pools.

Pools would be pretty much the same as well I imagine.  

A solution would be changing the block time to LTC's 2.5 minutes or so (then of course adjusting the block size, difficulty adjustment time, block reward etc to make this work).  Then hopefully miners would feel more comfortable using smaller pools because there would be less variance in their income.  I suppose if you did this you could simultaneously switch to a GPU-friendly algorithm as well.

[Red-Apple]

they are simply losing money by doing this!
a quick look at the blocks so far shows that total fees are about 3-4BTC. that is a huge amount of money at this price = $13000-$17000 per block.

and so far Antpool has mined 4 empty blocks which means they have missed on ~$52000-$69000 in total today (only on 25th) and also with other half empty blocks they have also missed quite a bit. so i am guessing today alone they have missed at least $90000

[The One]

Yawn. More anti-chinese drivel.

[filharvey]

I hope the Russians can get the money to establish new mining farms to compete with these Chinese miners. They have not shown good faith at all and the sooner we get rid of them the better. The UK and USA are sitting on their hands and they have all the resources to compete with these Chinese mining farms.

I hope the AMD & NVIDIA cards will boost mining hash power globally and people would be able to break the Chinese monopoly on Bitcoin mining. ^grrrrrrrr^

Its really a disaster for bitcoin to have chinese miners as the dominating force.Through out,their history,they had not been loyal to bitcoin.Earlier,their exchanges created fake sell orders and manipulated bitcoin price.Now,they have started to dictate the mining sector how to work,what should be the mining fee.Its time to set bitcoin mining farms all over the world to reduce thair dominance.Otherwise,i'm sorry to say that these chinese gamblers would do a huge damage to the reputation of bitcoin.Its really sad to see such situation.

[Oznog]

Antpool is no enemy of Bitcoin.
Just from Bitcoin Core.
Why?

Bitcoin Core is now:
More slower: +20m between blocks.
More expensive: +$60 fees.
More insecure: BCH 50.17% hashpower.

Fucking true story!