Ooops of the day

[fillippone]

Ops of the day:

Bitmain lost $150,000 because it mined an invalid Bitcoin block

Bitmain lost $150,000 because it mined an invalid Bitcoin block
Bitmain-owned mining pool Antpool appears to have squandered at least $150,000 worth of Bitcoin mining rewards, reports BitMEX Research, the analytic arm of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX. … (link: https://ift.tt/2G8BEjp) ift.tt/2G8BEjp

According to BitMEX Research, the Bitcoin network denied Antpool’s block as it featured an erroneous coinbase transaction.
Instead of 12.5 BTC, whoever mined the block seems to have requested a reward of 13.26 BTC ($154,700). This appears to equal the correct coinbase transaction (12.5 BTC) plus the sum of the associated transaction fees.
“The coinbase value was too high, presumably because this included the transaction fees, but due to some error the transactions themselves were not included,” tweeted BitMEX Research.

Well, this is an invalid block, so a block that was rejected by bitcoin nodes and then not appearing on the blockchain. That's a different mishap than mining a VALID block, but forgetting to claim the coinbase!
I cannot find that story, can someone help me I recall a list of all "lost bitcoins" that prevent getting to theoretical limit of 21 millions.


As seen by my node:

Code:

bitcoin-cli getblock 0000000000000000000b47042b90c6a893e6e5cdef70c92beefb88f4c5fa5a69 2
      ],
      "vout": [
        {
          "value": 13.26546691,
          "n": 0,
          "scriptPubKey": {
            "asm": "OP_DUP OP_HASH160 edf10a7fac6b32e24daa5305c723f3de58db1bc8 OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG",
            "hex": "76a914edf10a7fac6b32e24daa5305c723f3de58db1bc888ac",
            "reqSigs": 1,
            "type": "pubkeyhash",
            "addresses": [
              "1Nh7uHdvY6fNwtQtM1G5EZAFPLC33B59rB"
            ]
          }
        },
        {
          "value": 0.00000000,
          "n": 1,
          "scriptPubKey": {
            "asm": "OP_RETURN aa21a9ede2f61c3f71d1defd3fa999dfa36953755c690689799962b48bebd836974e8cf9",
            "hex": "6a24aa21a9ede2f61c3f71d1defd3fa999dfa36953755c690689799962b48bebd836974e8cf9",
            "type": "nulldata"
          }
        }
      ],
      "hex": "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"
    }
  ],
  "time": 1562769325,
  "mediantime": 1562768560,
  "nonce": 1839588352,
  "bits": "171f0d9b",
  "difficulty": 9064159826491.41,
  "chainwork": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000071e096a92ffbaebf02268ff",
  "nTx": 1,
  "previousblockhash": "0000000000000000001b253b1fac766189e15d7f7078191002e5427ac7b8f9f1"
}
{
  "hash": "0000000000000000000b47042b90c6a893e6e5cdef70c92beefb88f4c5fa5a69",
  "confirmations": -1,
  "strippedsize": 298,
  "size": 334,
  "weight": 1228,
  "height": 584802,
  "version": 541065216,
  "versionHex": "20400000",
  "merkleroot": "7a4a31da4258dd1b00728ce0cdd766500fe2ea2ee378316945c904bc949b5a7f",
  "tx": [
    {
      "txid": "7a4a31da4258dd1b00728ce0cdd766500fe2ea2ee378316945c904bc949b5a7f",
      "hash": "5844edb95fa58eeb6e2c292fa1d3811afb797d62e35905bfd35f029068c37127",
      "version": 1,
      "size": 253,
      "vsize": 226,
      "weight": 904,
      "locktime": 0,
      "vin": [
        {
          "coinbase": "0362ec081c4d696e656420627920416e74506f6f6c313132ee003300200f0c9c50fabe6d6dc0ba0d6922d0606afa6321ef35c91f070cb29a0425d4ffef18f70658908db8b6040000000000000033060000b43f0000",
          "sequence": 4294967295
        }
      ],
      "vout": [
        {
          "value": 13.26546691,
          "n": 0,
          "scriptPubKey": {
            "asm": "OP_DUP OP_HASH160 edf10a7fac6b32e24daa5305c723f3de58db1bc8 OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG",
            "hex": "76a914edf10a7fac6b32e24daa5305c723f3de58db1bc888ac",
            "reqSigs": 1,
            "type": "pubkeyhash",
            "addresses": [
              "1Nh7uHdvY6fNwtQtM1G5EZAFPLC33B59rB"
            ]
          }
        },
        {
          "value": 0.00000000,
          "n": 1,
          "scriptPubKey": {
            "asm": "OP_RETURN aa21a9ede2f61c3f71d1defd3fa999dfa36953755c690689799962b48bebd836974e8cf9",
            "hex": "6a24aa21a9ede2f61c3f71d1defd3fa999dfa36953755c690689799962b48bebd836974e8cf9",
            "type": "nulldata"
          }
        }
      ],
      "hex": "010000000001010000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000ffffffff550362ec081c4d696e656420627920416e74506f6f6c313132ee003300200f0c9c50fabe6d6dc0ba0d6922d0606afa6321ef35c91f070cb29a0425d4ffef18f70658908db8b6040000000000000033060000b43f0000ffffffff02037f114f000000001976a914edf10a7fac6b32e24daa5305c723f3de58db1bc888ac0000000000000000266a24aa21a9ede2f61c3f71d1defd3fa999dfa36953755c690689799962b48bebd836974e8cf90120000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000"
    }
  ],
  "time": 1562769325,
  "mediantime": 1562768560,
  "nonce": 1839588352,
  "bits": "171f0d9b",
  "difficulty": 9064159826491.41,
  "chainwork": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000071e096a92ffbaebf02268ff",
  "nTx": 1,
  "previousblockhash": "0000000000000000001b253b1fac766189e15d7f7078191002e5427ac7b8f9f1"
}

Can anyone guess what happened?
What is the point of mining empty blocks?
What's the difference between SPV and selfish mining?

EDIT:
I found the thread about lost bitcoins!
https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/38994/will-there-be-21-million-bitcoins-eventually/38998#38998
Not really relevant here, but fun read!

EDIT2: Added some more infos on the lost block from my node.

[Artemis3]

Moral of the story: Stay away from Antpool.

But how is this Mining support? how about... The Antpool thread in the Pools subforum?

[fillippone]

Moral of the story: Stay away from Antpool.

But how is this Mining support? how about... The Antpool thread in the Pools subforum?

I posted here because I wanted a comment on how such a bug is possible or an idea on what happened..
If you think I posted on the wrong board , please let me know and I will move the  post.
That particular thread you suggested seems dead (can I add a thread to another one as a post, btw? )

[BitMaxz]

I posted here because I wanted a comment on how such a bug is possible or an idea on what happened..
If you think I posted on the wrong board , please let me know and I will move the  post.
That particular thread you suggested seems dead (can I add a thread to another one as a post, btw? )

I think bitcoin discussion is the right place for this news.

Just research about this and it looks like it's getting trending and it was published yesterday on CCN.

Some tweeted that I found.


It could be block template generator that causes the issue.


You can use the move button below left of this page to move this to another section.

[Steamtyme]

Man that would suck. At least for most people mining on Antpool it probably wouldn't affect their rewards to much, last I checked they were mostly PPS so they get paid he same for every share regardless of block numbers or transaction fees. I know I've seen kano talk about a lot of these pools mining empty blocks, but don't really know what would have caused this particular error, I'm sure Antpool has found a network block in a similar fashion before.

I probably would have posted this in mining speculation for a more miner related conversation - or Pools but not likely it would have remained there.

[fillippone]

Man that would suck. At least for most people mining on Antpool it probably wouldn't affect their rewards to much, last I checked they were mostly PPS so they get paid he same for every share regardless of block numbers or transaction fees. I know I've seen kano talk about a lot of these pools mining empty blocks, but don't really know what would have caused this particular error, I'm sure Antpool has found a network block in a similar fashion before.

I probably would have posted this in mining speculation for a more miner related conversation - or Pools but not likely it would have remained there.

AH! I originally posted in mining support, but got told to move away. Mining speculation  seems a good pick (I simply ignored that board as I am not familiar with this section).
Would you suggest to move it here?

Also, can someone explain to a non miner, what's logic behind mining empty blocks?

[Steamtyme]

~snip~Would you suggest to move it here?
Also, can someone explain to a non miner, what's logic behind mining empty blocks?

No worries, I still have a hard time deciding where to put a post there sometimes. You could move it if you want but it would be fine here to, might just have to report the odd spamfiller here and there.

The logic behind mining empty blocks doesn't exist. It has something to do with the pool code I believe, at least when the empty block occurs very shortly after the previous block. This pool may have begun trying to solve the block before downloading and validating the transactions in the previous block, to avoid creating an invalid block by potentially including a transaction from the previous block they don't include any transactions in their work.

I'm not the best to explain this sort of thing, but I do know that a pool can make changes to prevent this from happening. I guess to them it's not as big a deal because many miners out there still don't understand their rewards breakdowns and what pools may be in their best interests. So they don't have to justify why a point in the system that exists to validate transactions isn't validating transactions when they are available.

[fillippone]

I guess the bug has to do with SPV mining practice.
I tried researching more on the incident, but I couldn't find anything.

[pooya87]

without seeing the raw block bytes of the block that was rejected it is impossible to say what the reason was. all you can say is that there was a block and it was rejected. it could have had any reason as simple as being orphaned.

also as we can see now the block in question (#584802) is already mined by Bitmain (Antpool)!!!
https://www.blockchain.com/en/btc/block/000000000000000000036f762072726964af3199d3c1dd0c3301c1d68a9ecec8
and the reward is 13.14968988 BTC which is not far from the number that the article reports as lost (13.26 BTC) so again there is no way of telling why it was rejected.