Wonder who this solominer is? 88.6.216.9

[DeathAndTaxes]

The issue would be invalid nodes will build a block with the bad tx.  It will be orphaned and the invalid nodes will see the same bad tx as a pending tx and perpetually make new bad blocks with the same bad tx.  Any out of date bitcoind will see these bad blocks as good and having the highest height and try to build off it.  

New nodes will see the bad block as invalid and build off the prior block thus never get invalidated when the bad chain becomes orphaned.

I am not saying that mystery IS using an outdated bitcoind but outdated nodes will perpetually try to include the bad tx in the next block.

The 35 orphaned blocks are not a long 35 block chain they are a large number of 1,2,3 block chains.

[kjj]

The issue would be invalid nodes will build a block with the bad tx.  It will be orphaned and the invalid nodes will see the same bad tx as a pending tx and perpetually make new bad blocks with the same bad tx.  Any out of date bitcoind will see these bad blocks as good and having the highest height and try to build off it.  

New nodes will see the bad block as invalid and build off the prior block thus never get invalidated when the bad chain becomes orphaned.

I am not saying that mystery IS using an outdated bitcoind but outdated nodes will perpetually try to include the bad tx in the next block.

The 35 orphaned blocks are not a long 35 block chain they are a large number of 1,2,3 block chains.

But the old miners are only a small fraction of the network, and they consider the live chain to be valid too, so they will only be working on invalid blocks for a small fraction of the time.  While 100% of the blocks generated on that fork will be orphaned, most of the time their current block will be the same as our current block, because our chain keeps winning because we have much more hashing power.

So, even if the 0-tx miner was using an old node for his prevHash, that old node would be right most of the time, and most of his blocks would still be fine.

Although he seems to have disappeared, P2SH doesn't get the credit.  Something else does.

[DILLIGAF]

Although he seems to have disappeared, P2SH doesn't get the credit.  Something else does.

Perhaps a quick $100+K was good enough for a few weeks work..

[disclaimer201]

It's not impossible the solominer is someone with Asics already.

Might as well be Vlad https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=75298.msg838691;topicseen#msg838691 and his plan for a massive Asic mining farm. Even if it isn't him, it could be someone else with Asics already putting everyone who is mining out of business.

As I understand it Vlad's plans are outright to get >51% of the network rate and maximize profits (see other thread).

One thing he might be doing IMO is spreading FUD ( http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_Uncertainty_and_Doubt ) in order to "invite unfavorable opinions and speculation about a competitor's product; to increase the general estimation of switching costs among current customers; or to maintain leverage over a current business partner who could potentially become a rival."

The question is only what product and which competitor? Certainly, it will be easier to get to 51% if you can scare out other miners ahead of time.

[Littleshop]

It's not impossible the solominer is someone with Asics already.

Nothing is impossible, but that is most probably not it.  The botnet may have been damaged, the BIP might be causing the problem but if you had ASIC's.  why would you turn off that profit.  The fact that it turned off tells you a lot.  Common sense still says botnet. 

Might as well be Vlad https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=75298.msg838691;topicseen#msg838691 and his plan for a massive Asic mining farm. Even if it isn't him, it could be someone else with Asics already putting everyone who is mining out of business.

As I understand it Vlad's plans are outright to get >51% of the network rate and maximize profits (see other thread).

The 1 tran minder is not Vlad.  While I do not agree with Vlad on all issues, I know that he genuinely cares for bitcoin and is smart.  He would not do 1 tran blocks for obvious reasons.....

They stick out, and let the world know what you are doing.
It hurts bitcoin.
He is smart enough to make his hardware do blocks properly. 

[rjk]

It's not impossible the solominer is someone with Asics already.

Might as well be Vlad https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=75298.msg838691;topicseen#msg838691 and his plan for a massive Asic mining farm. Even if it isn't him, it could be someone else with Asics already putting everyone who is mining out of business.

As I understand it Vlad's plans are outright to get >51% of the network rate and maximize profits (see other thread).

One thing he might be doing IMO is spreading FUD ( http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_Uncertainty_and_Doubt ) in order to "invite unfavorable opinions and speculation about a competitor's product; to increase the general estimation of switching costs among current customers; or to maintain leverage over a current business partner who could potentially become a rival."

The question is only what product and which competitor? Certainly, it will be easier to get to 51% if you can scare out other miners ahead of time.

You are the one spreading FUD. Please re-read the thread you linked to, slower and more carefully. There was only discussion and speculation as to what could be done if he were to achieve 51%, NOT an outright claim that such a feat would be attempted.

[disclaimer201]

It's not impossible the solominer is someone with Asics already.

Might as well be Vlad https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=75298.msg838691;topicseen#msg838691 and his plan for a massive Asic mining farm. Even if it isn't him, it could be someone else with Asics already putting everyone who is mining out of business.

As I understand it Vlad's plans are outright to get >51% of the network rate and maximize profits (see other thread).

One thing he might be doing IMO is spreading FUD ( http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_Uncertainty_and_Doubt ) in order to "invite unfavorable opinions and speculation about a competitor's product; to increase the general estimation of switching costs among current customers; or to maintain leverage over a current business partner who could potentially become a rival."

The question is only what product and which competitor? Certainly, it will be easier to get to 51% if you can scare out other miners ahead of time.

You are the one spreading FUD. Please re-read the thread you linked to, slower and more carefully. There was only discussion and speculation as to what could be done if he were to achieve 51%, NOT an outright claim that such a feat would be attempted.

I have just read his post that he is not going to attempt a 51% attack. However, UP to his latest post and after having read the entire thread this was not very clear at all. The tone of the announcement and the replies sound rather arrogant. Even if he is claiming not to have such an attack in mind, there isn't much to stop him. It would also not be in his interest if his job is to maximize profits (as some have pointed out).

On another note, is it really proven yet that the assumed botnet has disappeared?

[P_Shep]

Perhpas the botnet was the 600,000 infected Macs

[Littleshop]

Perhpas the botnet was the 600,000 infected Macs

Could have been.  Macs, while harder to p0wn are a good target because many (iMacs and MacBook pro) have ati gpus.  I estimate 30,000 Gpu infected machines could have been the 1 trans miner. 

[Garr255]

That's very possible.

[molecular]

That's very possible.

especially because that one botnet offering was called "iMine".

[P4man]

Has that Mac botnet been taken down yet then? THe thought crossed my mind too, but Ive only seen reports of it being discovered, not blackholed or eliminated.

[disclaimer201]

If you google Botnet and iMine you get to this forum entry by someone called "Ixam" offering his services dated 12.03.2012. Paypal accepted!

http://www.hitechforums.net/Thread-%E2%95%94%E2%96%BAiMine-%E2%99%A3-1-Bitcoin-Botnet-Miner-%E2%99%A3-CPU-GPU-%E2%99%A3-No-dependencies-%E2%99%A3-Official-Reseller-%E2%99%A3

[silverbox]

I don't understand the broken-ness well enough to explain it, but the smarter-than-me developers in bitcoin-dev said the script is invalid in some subtle way that the current bitcoin versions recognize and reject and that old bitcoin versions don't recognize and think is valid.

Sounds to me that this transaction was intentionally created to put MM out of business for a while and to do exactly what it is doing to miners who didn't upgrade.

QFT

[discordian666]

If you google Botnet and iMine you get to this forum entry by someone called "Ixam" offering his services dated 12.03.2012. Paypal accepted!

http://www.hitechforums.net/Thread-%E2%95%94%E2%96%BAiMine-%E2%99%A3-1-Bitcoin-Botnet-Miner-%E2%99%A3-CPU-GPU-%E2%99%A3-No-dependencies-%E2%99%A3-Official-Reseller-%E2%99%A3

hmm

paypal refund scams accepted too

dodgy

[bulanula]

That's very possible.

especially because that one botnet offering was called "iMine".

iMine doesn't run on OSX, only Windows machines.

http://www.hackforums.net/showthread.php?tid=2261956  

So you are the guy that sells this stuff

Botnets are illegal and criminal.

The last thing we needed in Bitcoin, the botnet currency.

EDIT : seems like he deleted the post advertising his own iMiner botnet software.

Upon further investigation it looks like they are quite organized :

-someone codes the program
-some other guys resell the program for $10 PayPal
-they only accept payment as "gift" and if you sent it otherwise they refund you automatically so you cannot chargeback them after gift is sent etc.
-miner uses both CPU and GPU on victim PC
-there were some guys getting 9 ghash/s out of this lunacy

[P4man]

The 1TX blocks have gone, but has the mystery miner? I know blockchain.info isnt all that reliable, but have a look at this:
http://blockchain.info/pools?timespan=4days

"Unknown" used to represent something like 10-15% IIRC. Deepbit and slush combined were close to 50%.
Did Mystery Miner switch to solo mining? Or is this GPUmax thats directing its hashes somewhere than to any of the regular pools?

[kjj]

Meh.  Who cares?  Unless/until the no-transaction blocks start coming back, his botnet, if it was one, is a matter for the cops, not the bitcoin forums.

[Red Emerald]

The 1TX blocks have gone, but has the mystery miner? I know blockchain.info isnt all that reliable, but have a look at this:
http://blockchain.info/pools?timespan=4days

"Unknown" used to represent something like 10-15% IIRC. Deepbit and slush combined were close to 50%.
Did Mystery Miner switch to solo mining? Or is this GPUmax thats directing its hashes somewhere than to any of the regular pools?

Hasn't it been awhile since Deepbit + slush = 50%?  I thought that the most recent fear-mongering of pool ops pointed to Deepbit + Slush + BTCGuild.

[DeathAndTaxes]

The 1TX blocks have gone, but has the mystery miner? I know blockchain.info isnt all that reliable, but have a look at this:
http://blockchain.info/pools?timespan=4days

"Unknown" used to represent something like 10-15% IIRC. Deepbit and slush combined were close to 50%.
Did Mystery Miner switch to solo mining? Or is this GPUmax thats directing its hashes somewhere than to any of the regular pools?

Hasn't it been awhile since Deepbit + slush = 50%?  I thought that the most recent fear-mongering of pool ops pointed to Deepbit + Slush + BTCGuild.

Yes.  It has been at least a month (maybe 2?) since any two pools had >50%.  It has been top 3 ~50% for some time.   The % which makes up the top 3, 4, 5 has been on a slow decline.  It would be nice if someday the top 5 was <50%.

I wish blockchain showed longer intervals (like last 30 days) or a chart showing % by pool over time.