ghash.io is becoming SHOCKINGLY AGGRESSIVE NOW, closing in 45%

[descarte]

https://blockchain.info/pools

did btcguild users jumped over to ghash?

or did ghash keep buying machines?

Can't imagine what is going to happen if they keep increasing their hashing power at this rate......

[minerva]

Okay, it's time to discourage blocks made by ghash.io before they have 51%.

[super3]

It this gets any worse, I'm going to have to create a proof-of-stake hard fork of Bitcoin...

[toast]

What is incentivizing miners to keep joining GHash? Are they getting *that* much marginal utility from GHash over any other pool?

This is a big, big problem. Even if GHash is benevolent, it still exposes a weak point for someone trying to attack bitcoin (only need to coerce two people to have 51% right now).

[HPWolf]

Dont know if CEX.IO plays a part in that cause all there GHS points to ghash

[HairyMaclairy]

If you look at the 24 hour chart they are at 41%.

Ghash combined with "unknown" is well over 51%.

[descarte]

OK, they just got 42%

I just changed my title to reflect the urgency...

It looks like a comet crashing on earth.

[Ximp]

I'll buy your bitcoins $0.80 on the dollar!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOzMdEwYmDU

[justusranvier]

Bitcoin survived when Deepbit did it:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=26656

[toast]

Bitcoin survived when Deepbit did it:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=26656

So? It will always keep surviving potential 51% attacks, until one time it doesn't. Also that thread is from 2011, and has no useful information about what the resolution was.

Right now GHash has no incentive to attack the network. But that's not the point - the point is that if someone wants to attack bitcoin, they need to coerce only 2 people.

The community needs to take SOME preemptive action. Right now everyone is plugging their ears and saying "don't worry this problem will go away on its own".

[justusranvier]

So? It will always keep surviving potential 51% attacks, until one time it doesn't. Also that thread is from 2011, and has no useful information about what the resolution was.

The resolution was more mining on other pools.

The community needs to take SOME preemptive action. Right now everyone is plugging their ears and saying "don't worry this problem will go away on its own".

If you're worried about ghash.io having too much power then buy an ASIC and either solo mine or join a different pool.

There is no such thing as "preemptive action" in a system designed to have no central authorities where 1 hash=1 vote.

[toast]

So? It will always keep surviving potential 51% attacks, until one time it doesn't. Also that thread is from 2011, and has no useful information about what the resolution was.

The resolution was more mining on other pools.

The community needs to take SOME preemptive action. Right now everyone is plugging their ears and saying "don't worry this problem will go away on its own".

If you're worried about ghash.io having too much power then buy an ASIC and either solo mine or join a different pool.

There is no such thing as "preemptive action" in a system designed to have no central authorities where 1 hash=1 vote.

If I had a botnet I could DDoS Ghash
If I had 10,000 btc I could subsidize small pools
If I was skilled as fuck I could make a cloud p2pool mining service with better marketing than ghash

Let me guess, "By 'no such thing' I really meant 'no reasonable thing', here's why all those are not feasible"

[amincd]

It's because GHash does merged mining with NMC, DEV and IXC.

[Jcw188]

Has ghash owner shown any communication or willingness to stop adding hash before he gets to even close to 51 percent?  I've seen that done in the past on some of the alts.

[Light]

It's because GHash does merged mining with NMC, DEV and IXC.

Personally that's one of the reasons I prefer it, but also that I can trade GHS along the side for some profit (which I'm inclined to say seems all pure luck and speculation) and it has a rather nice interface. Honestly, I'd doubt we're likely to have Ghash.io get over 50% and even if we do I don't think the consequences are going to be as massive as OP is predicting.

[toast]

It's because GHash does merged mining with NMC, DEV and IXC.

Well...  I'm sure the amazing profits those alt coins provide the miners will easily make up for the losses they will incur should the pool try something malicious (I'm not suggesting it will, only that it is not outside the realm of possibility) resulting in a (temporary) loss of confidence in Bitcoin...

You're assuming the operator of GHash would be acting as a rational profit-maximizing agent, and not as someone being coerced by someone who just wants to destroy BTC. Having half the hashing power makes you the weapon, not the bad guy.

[descarte]

"Going away from ghash.io" ? What if ghash (cex.io) owns all the machines? They still mine even if you go away. The big jump in hashing power might be a massive purchase from somewhere. unless someone can confirm this is false.

"A profit-seeking person will always gain more by just following the rules". What if its not for profit reason? How can we guarantee that they are sane?

Despite all the arguments about not worrying about 51% attack, think about all the time and money you invested in this, can you seriously sleep in peace, knowing that ghash has 51% power?

Do you seriously think the public don't care what ghash can do with 51% on their hands?

what if the lost of confidence in bitcoin is not temporary?

"if this attack is successfully executed, it will be difficult or impossible to "untangle" the mess created - any changes the attacker makes might become permanent." - Are you really taking these words lightly?

[Ximp]

This is actually a really big threat to the security of bitcoin as a whole. The whole setup is supposed to solve the whole trust issue, but if 51% control is achieved and maintained, I don't see any alternative to jumping aboard another coin, probably POS. Saying fingers crossed is not enough.

[SaltySpitoon]

I was thinking of trying Ghash.io because of its merged mining, but after reading this, I'll probably stick to eligus. We are having horrible luck lately though, and BTCGuild is losing the PPLNS race to Ghash.io, so your best option may be to PPS on BTCGuild, and thats with a 7.5% fee...

In the meantime, I'm going to look at the cost of datacenters, maybe having multiple Cex.io's isn't a bad idea

[knybe]

GHash.IO At 42% Of Mined Blocks Over Past 24 Hours.