KEEPING A DEAD COIN’S BLOCKCHAIN ALIVE: IS IT POSSIBLE?

[benzmuircroft]

Hi,

As I have a few free VPS servers available and I like researching the crypto industry, I am looking into several cryptocoins that have now been totally delisted from all exchanges.

These coins still have some nodes up and running (some of which might be the devs own nodes possibly).

I would like to keep the blockchain going, just in case there is a community takeover of the project like it has happened in a few cases.

Before launching these nodes, I make sure that in the conf files I have the addnodes= lines pointing to my own nodes as well as those that are still online that might belong to the devs.

However, blockchain syncing for my nodes stops at a specific block (the same block across all the nodes) and does not get past this hurdle.

I can see the peers still being connected at this point, but syncing stops for all of the nodes at exactly the same block and point in time.

I have tried deleting peers.dat, deleting all files except wallet.dat and the .conf with the addnodes, reindexing… all to no avail.

Now I am quite puzzled…. why would syncing stop as if “a central reference server” was missing if the blockchain is supposed to be fully decentralized?

Also, if I am correct in thinking that some of the few nodes that are not owned by me belong to the devs, why would they intentionally leave nodes running on a dead coin?

I would be grateful if I could have the comments from some blockchain experts regarding this issue.

Many thanks!

[1714957608]

1714957608

[psycodad]

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However, blockchain syncing for my nodes stops at a specific block (the same block across all the nodes) and does not get past this hurdle.

I can see the peers still being connected at this point, but syncing stops for all of the nodes at exactly the same block and point in time.

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Maybe there was simply no new block mined and the block where it stops is the last block?
Then the blockchain is stuck there until somebody mines the next block.

[HCP]

(For "non-staking" coins) Nodes don't create new blocks... miners do. So unless someone is actively mining, then there won't be any new blocks added to the blockchain. Most people won't bother mining "dead" coins, because it costs money to purchase and run mining hardware. Given that the dead coins are delisted and essentially have zero value, there is no way to convert any mining rewards (block rewards and/or transaction fees) into $$$ to cover those costs.

They're dead for a reason... best to just let them go and help save the planet by reducing energy consumption... It's what Greta would want

[nc50lc]

Before launching these nodes, I make sure that in the conf files I have the addnodes= lines pointing to my own nodes as well as those that are still online that might belong to the devs.

If that coin's client is identical to Bitcoin Core, you're using the wrong parameter.
It should be addnode= without 's' and can be written in multiple lines if you need to manually add more peers.

If you have added other parameters, please tell us.

[benzmuircroft]

Thanks everyone for the answers!

However, I forgot to mention that both of the coins that I am experimenting with are 100% POS, so there is no hardware mining involved in it.

So, in view of this, what else could cause, in your opinion, that the blockchain gets totally stuck?

[benzmuircroft]

Before launching these nodes, I make sure that in the conf files I have the addnodes= lines pointing to my own nodes as well as those that are still online that might belong to the devs.

If that coin's client is identical to Bitcoin Core, you're using the wrong parameter.
It should be addnode= without 's' and can be written in multiple lines if you need to manually add more peers.

If you have added other parameters, please tell us.

Sorry, I mistyped. I did actually use addnode= , in fact as I said at the time the blockchain gets stuck I do see the peers still connected, they just stop syncing.

[Ucy]

The coins are currently not being mined? And no new block is created? No transaction is taking place any longer. So, the project is abandoned.
The developers probably don't want their projects to be completely dead hence they keep few things running.

[tinyteapot]

I hope your efforts can correspond with your rewards.
Your are dealing with coin which you do not have any information about the history as regards the specifications, the blockchain should have served as a live information.
POS coin often stuck for so many reasons but most especially the “Fake Stake” attacks.
Good luck with your research.

[CjMapope]

Hi,

As I have a few free VPS servers available and I like researching the crypto industry, I am looking into several cryptocoins that have now been totally delisted from all exchanges.

These coins still have some nodes up and running (some of which might be the devs own nodes possibly).

I would like to keep the blockchain going, just in case there is a community takeover of the project like it has happened in a few cases.

Before launching these nodes, I make sure that in the conf files I have the addnodes= lines pointing to my own nodes as well as those that are still online that might belong to the devs.

However, blockchain syncing for my nodes stops at a specific block (the same block across all the nodes) and does not get past this hurdle.

I can see the peers still being connected at this point, but syncing stops for all of the nodes at exactly the same block and point in time.

I have tried deleting peers.dat, deleting all files except wallet.dat and the .conf with the addnodes, reindexing… all to no avail.

Now I am quite puzzled…. why would syncing stop as if “a central reference server” was missing if the blockchain is supposed to be fully decentralized?

Also, if I am correct in thinking that some of the few nodes that are not owned by me belong to the devs, why would they intentionally leave nodes running on a dead coin?

I would be grateful if I could have the comments from some blockchain experts regarding this issue.

Many thanks!

you can of course keep the chain alive, tho you might need to make sure YOUR the seed, (or you recode a hard seed with your own)
you need to read how  PoW chain works man, anyone with the hash can move it, thats WHY its "decentralized"
your problem is because they hardcoded a seednode, the team is a fuck they shouldnt do that except off the bat sometimes to help the network
as you can see tho it causes trouble long term when they take down the network seed
get synced (or pick a checkpoint)
code your own seed
fork into it
chain is yours

[Javi_Anibarro]

Proof of Stake coins have a dormant period , (varies per coin design)
it may be that there are not enough non-dormant coins available to stake and maintain the blockspeed.
Noblecoin is one example of this , as it has days in between a few stakes.
https://chainz.cryptoid.info/nobl/
This is because the few that still have stake-able coins don't have their coins spread out into enough blocks to maintain the blockspeed.
Noblecoin difficulty is extremely low at 0.00071932  .
Meaning if a big holder came along and did not sync first, he could rewrite days of the blockchain by accident or on purpose.
or
Network has forked so badly , it can't choose the correct chain, and just refuses all new blocks.
(Requires paying a developer to add a checkpoint to fix.)


If you want to support a Proof of Stake coin,
1: You need enough coins staking to maintain the blockspeed and a decent difficulty to prevent history overwrites.
If you are unable to purchase any additional coins at an exchange , this is a hard task to accomplish

2. Running Block Explorer is required as no one can trust a coin without a 3rd party explorer running.

3. Paying an exchange listing fee,

4. Maintaining Nodes to sync new users

If you are not willing to do all 4 , then don't waste your time doing 1 , as all 4 are required.

FYI:
You are better off picking a Proof of Stake coin that
Is maintaining it's blockspeed.
Has a Block Explorer
Has an Exchange , (any exchange is working is all you really need.)
Has users already Maintaining nodes and providing a blockchain snapshot to speed up syncing


FYI2:
You can work at keeping a dead coin network running, but it will be expensive, and likely without reward.
Makes more sense to find a Live Coin Network and throw your support behind it.
Their are still many to choose from. However the weak ones will be dying over the next year or two in droves.

In PoS you need a dormant coin to run the blockchain, your node will not do this job that is why the block will not move up or stuck.
Fork can be a reason for it too, try to stake your coin and observe it. Will the block move up or not

[benzmuircroft]

Thanks for all of your answers, I feel closer to understanding the problem. Yet something still does not add up. Because I am the second largest coin holder (I actually have the coins in ONE single transaction to add more weight on the network) yet I still can't stake. I used to stake until about 10 days ago, then suddendly it stopped when the blockchain syncing stopped as I said previously.

My current getstakingstatus is

{
    "validtime" : true,
    "haveconnections" : true,
    "walletunlocked" : true,
    "mintablecoins" : true,
    "enoughcoins" : true,
    "mnsync" : false
}

Thanks again for your help!

[fuer44]

(For "non-staking" coins) Nodes don't create new blocks... miners do. So unless someone is actively mining, then there won't be any new blocks added to the blockchain. Most people won't bother mining "dead" coins, because it costs money to purchase and run mining hardware. Given that the dead coins are delisted and essentially have zero value, there is no way to convert any mining rewards (block rewards and/or transaction fees) into $$$ to cover those costs.

They're dead for a reason... best to just let them go and help save the planet by reducing energy consumption... It's what Greta would want

actually a good goal is to examine the blockchain directly and see the possibility of dead coins can be mined again. but I would rather agree with you, if the coins are dead it means they no longer have volume and that means they are no longer valuable in the market and it is better if they are completely erased to reduce energy consumption.

[benzmuircroft]

Hi again everyone,

thanks for all of your answers!

Any thoughts on why the blockchain is not staking any more coins, considering that, as I said above, I am the third biggest holder of coins in one single transaction?

Thanks a lot.