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An update from eth classic amount linked in that thread: (not sure what they mean by selfish mining...)

Regarding the recent mining events. We may have an idea of where the hashrate came from. ASIC manufacturer Linzhi confirmed testing of new 1,400/Mh ethash machines #projectLavaSnow

- Most likely selfish mining (Not 51% attack)

- Double spends not detected (Miner dumped bocks)




Coinbase mentions a few reorgs without double spends, and a quite a few more with: https://blog.coinbase.com/ethereum-classic-etc-is-currently-...


IIRC selfish mining is mining without broadcasting the blocks. Some pools do it for only a short time to get a headstart on mining the next block, the obvious risk being someone else broadcasts a block before you do and your block becomes orphaned. In the case of a 51% attack, I believe you can simply selfish mine then reorg the chain every now and then because your chain is longer. This way, you mine every single block.


So this is a publicity stunt intended to show off their mining rigs.


Eyal, Ittay, and Emin Gün Sirer. "Majority is not enough: Bitcoin mining is vulnerable." Communications of the ACM 61.7 (2018): 95-102.

https://www.cs.cornell.edu/~ie53/publications/btcProcFC.pdf




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