Crypto alternate Coinbase has carried out precautionary measures in response to a single mining pool taking management of 53.8% of the hash charge on the proof-of-work blockchain powering the privateness coin Zcash.
Any further, the alternate would require 110 block confirmations earlier than it confirms a deposit of ZEC, based on a weblog put up. This will increase the deposit time from roughly 40 minutes to round 2.5 hours. The objective is to cut back the danger of double spending.
It has additionally moved its Zcash buying and selling pairs into “restrict solely” mode, which means merchants can’t place market bids. The alternate said this is able to reduce the influence of any volatility — seemingly within the occasion of enormous gross sales made as a part of a double-spend assault.
Coinbase additional reached out to Electrical Coin Firm, the creator of Zcash, and the related mining pool, ViaBTC, with its issues. “We shared our issues across the dangers of mining centralization and offered suggestions for varied choices that both get together may implement to cut back the danger of a 51% assault,” the alternate mentioned.
The Electrical Coin Firm confirmed the discussions, including that its proposal to introduce a function to the Zcash blockchain, named the “Trailing Finality Layer,” may deal with the difficulty. This is able to be a step towards transitioning the blockchain from proof of labor to proof of stake.
A possible 51% assault
ViaBTC at present controls 53.8% of the Zcash hash charge, based on MiningPoolStats. This means that, in principle, if the mining pool determined to behave with in poor health intent, it may perform double spending assaults or exhibit different malicious habits.
ViaBTC now represents 53.8% of the Zcash’s hash charge. Picture: MiningPoolStats.
That mentioned, this isn’t a single miner dominating the community’s hash charge however fairly a mining pool. Such swimming pools comprise quite a few miners who combination their sources to attain a steadier earnings stream. If the mining pool had been to have interaction in dangerous actions, miners would possibly decide to discontinue utilizing the pool in favor of one other.
