Author: benevolent at cock.li 2015-12-25 12:02:10
Published on: 2015-12-25T12:02:10+00:00
In a 2015 email to the bitcoin development mailing list, Ittay criticized the practice of relying on threats against honest large mining pools to prevent centralization. Specifically, he mentioned GHash.IO, which was a successful pool at the time. This comment came in the context of a discussion about double-spending attacks against BetCoin Dice, which were made possible by GHash.IO's dominance in mining power. The issue of centralization has long been a concern in the bitcoin community, as large mining pools have the potential to wield significant control over the network and undermine its decentralized nature. In the case of GHash.IO, the pool had come under fire for approaching the 51% threshold, at which point it would be able to carry out potentially devastating attacks on the network. This incident highlights the need for ongoing vigilance in preventing centralization in the bitcoin network. While there is no easy solution, some have suggested implementing measures such as a hard cap on mining pool size or incentives for smaller pools. Overall, the issue of centralization remains a key challenge for the continued success and security of the bitcoin network.
Updated on: 2023-06-11T02:33:17.442380+00:00