An Unexpected Twist: Monero’s Fate Hangs in the Balance! 😱

In a most curious turn of events, the illustrious crypto exchange, Kraken, has chosen to put a pause on deposits for Monero (XMR). This pause, of course, is not merely a casual whim; it follows closely on the heels of a rather vexing 51% attack against the blockchain that prides itself on privacy-an audacity most befuddling! 🤔

Now, for the layman, a 51% attack can be described as a less-than-genteel form of dominion, wherein a single mining pool seizes control of over half of a blockchain’s hashing power-much akin to a relentless usurper taking the throne! This gives the perpetrator the dubious privilege of double-spending and, heaven forbid, rearranging transactions as if they were mere cards on a table. The good folks at Kraken proclaimed on a recent Friday:

“As a security precaution, we have paused Monero deposits after detecting that a single mining pool has gained more than 50% of the network’s total hashing power. This concentration of mining power poses a potential risk to network integrity.”

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A Single Mining Pool Takes the Helm

“After a month-long, high-stakes technical confrontation, Qubic reached 51% of Monero’s hashrate dominance, successfully reorganizing the blockchain,” announced the representatives of Qubic on a decidedly dreary Tuesday.

The once-embattled mining pool faced considerable resistance in its initial foray into dominance, stumbling at the feet of the protocol’s seventh-largest miner, and was met with a notorious denial of service attack on August 4-an occurrence most dreadful.

Now, for the uninitiated, a denial of service (DDoS) attack is a vile tactic that inundates a computer, network, or server with a torrent of faux incoming traffic, much like being besieged by a horde of overly enthusiastic telemarketers. 😒

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As fate would have it, the DDoS on Qubic reduced the mining pool’s hashrate from a rather impressive 2.6 gigahashes per second (GH/s) to a mere 0.8 GH/s-this, according to the enigmatic Sergey Ivancheglo, the man who stepped forth to claim his piece of the 51% pie.

Yet, with the tenacity of a cat with nine lives, the Qubic pool regained its hashing prowess, ultimately seizing the reins of the Monero network. “This event marks a pivotal moment in the crypto industry,” they declared, a sentiment echoing with both pride and incredulity, while also highlighting the audacious takeover of a $6 billion privacy protocol by a $300 million AI protocol-now, that is quite the spectacle! 😅

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2025-08-17 02:21