An unknown Bitcoin Cash (BCH) miner was apparently in control of more than 50% of the token’s hash rate for 24 hours.
The miner seemed to mine 73 blocks from 10 am Oct. 24 to 10 am Oct. 25, to which Twitter user Notgrubles responded that this is the reason why “BCH is a security risk and a liability,” while asking to de-list the coin.
By controlling 50% of BCH hash rate, the unknown miner, or potentially miners, are not far off from controlling the entire network and the ability to do “nefarious things” as one Redditor eloquently said.
Redditor Bitmeister had perhaps the most interesting view on this recent event, by saying that it is likely that Bitcoin (BTC) miners are experimenting with their otherwise useless BTC hashpower by pointing it at BCH.
Mysterious flash crash of BTC hash rate
At the end of September Bitcoin’s network hash rate dipped a record 40%. The flash drop remained unexplained and was all the more striking given the Bitcoin network’s record-breaking string of new all-time high hash rates throughout the summer.
A higher hash rate means greater competition among miners to validate new blocks. It also increases the number of resources needed for performing a 51% attack, making the network more secure.
Bitcoin Cash makes massive gains today
In sync with Bitcoin’s sudden price boost yesterday, altcoin markets also entered the green zone, with BCH recording a massive gain of more than 15% on the day as of press time.