Major mining pools facing connectivity issues amid Chinese mining crackdowns

[Jimmy2x]

Why it matters: Some of crypto's top mining pools, including Binance Pool, F2pool, and ViaBTC, were reporting extensive disruptions into early Saturday morning. According to official Telegram channels and numerous Reddit threads, the pool disruptions look to have been largely caused by ongoing DNS issues. While the problem is not relegated to the three pools mentioned, they account for more than 35% of the Bitcoin network's total hashrate.

A suspected attack on several Chinse cryptocurrency mining pools caused widespread connectivity issues for users around the world as recently as Saturday morning. Alejandro De La Torre, a cryptocurrency consultant and former mining pool Vice President at Poolin, noted that the connectivity issues appeared to have been targeted at and primarily affected Chinese miners and pools.

De La Torre believes the issues, many of which are DNS-related, may be the result of a DNS poisoning attack courtesy of the Chinese government in response to the country's recent bans on cryptocurrency and mining. This type of DNS manipulation can result in anything from domain name resolution failures to traffic being redirected to fraudulent sites. His speculations are fueled by the attack's largely Chinese target base and the timing as it relates to the country's recent crackdown on cryptocurrency mining.

According to btc.com, Binance Pool's hashrate was down more than 14% in 24 hours. F2pool and ViaBTC were also impacted, with traffic dropping 7% to 8% across both pools. The drops in hashrate refer to the processing power that a miner or pool contributes to the overall network of a specific blockchain. A hash (h/s) is the specific function that meets a blockchain's requirements to solve an encrypted computation. Mining speeds for some currencies, such as Ethereum, are measured in megahashes per second (Mh/s), or 1,000,000 computational hashes per second (h/s). Bitcoin, on the other hand, is measured in exahashes per second (Eh/s). This significantly larger value equates to one quintillion h/s. That's 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 h/s for anyone wondering just how many zeros were in a quintillion.

Most of the affected pools have advised their users of DNS modifications that will help to avoid any further disruption. Use of a VPN to avoid telecom restrictions was also a solution recommended by the pool providers.

Image credit: Bitcoin image by Dmitry Demidko; mining farm image by Genesis Mining

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https://www.techspot.com/news/92397-major-mining-pools-facing-connectivity-issues-amid-chinese.html

 

[psycros]

When China "outlaws" an industry it means their going to take it over. They'll keep blocking crypto traffic until they find every last hashing farm and put them to work for the PRC.

 

[m4a4]

When China "outlaws" an industry it means their going to take it over. They'll keep blocking crypto traffic until they find every last hashing farm and put them to work for the PRC.

If the China energy problems are true, I think they just want to kill 2 birds with 1 stone: control of money (crypto doesn't fit that), and reduction of strain on grid.

 

[WhoCaresAnymore]

Hey China, for a change, "I approve".

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Excellent work China

 

[VaRmeNsI]

Lots of authoritarians here, let's just ban everything...

 

[Bulllee]

It certainly is getting closer the unidentified fan.

 

[captaincranky]

When China "outlaws" an industry it means their going to take it over. They'll keep blocking crypto traffic until they find every last hashing farm and put them to work for the PRC.

We can only hope.

 

[captaincranky]

Lots of authoritarians here, let's just ban everything...

No need to lash out, only crypto is being targeted.

 

[kiwigraeme]

I've just spent the last 3.2 seconds doing a complete and in-depth assessment risk .
What is the chance eco-warriors will do a concerted and prolong attack on BC and it's ilk - due to it's high energy needs in the future

Very High with a chance of soya meatballs

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Lots of authoritarians here, let's just ban everything...

Well when it comes to freedom, people want to have their cake and eat it too. Case in point:

Excellent work China

I thought you supported the "FREE MARKET". This is a pretty anti free market tactic china is taking. You're not suggesting that suppressing the free market is the right move, are you?

When China "outlaws" an industry it means their going to take it over. They'll keep blocking crypto traffic until they find every last hashing farm and put them to work for the PRC.

Imagine, if you will, that you are a crypto miner in china. You've invested tons of time and money into building a farm to mine crypto, and have made massive gains in the last two years. China announces they are banning and cracking down on crypto, and just being authoritarian in general.

Now imagine knowing this, and a year later you STILL havent moved your operations out of china to literally anywhere else, Vietnam, indonesia, laos, russia, india, wherever. You have more then enough money to grease palms and move stuff and pay off your PRC officials, yet you havent.

I cant imagine being that dumb.

 

[R00sT3R]

You have more then enough money to grease palms and move stuff and pay off your PRC officials, yet you havent.

I cant imagine being that dumb.

You do realise that in China if you are caught and convicted of bribing officials, you will be put in front of a firing squad.

Miners maybe many things, scum mostly, but they're not dumb.

 

[captaincranky]

To the miners I say, "F**k you, if you can't take a joke"..

 

[captaincranky]

You do realise that in China if you are caught and convicted of bribing officials, you will be put in front of a firing squad.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you would have to be caught first.

We just had a city councilman and a union boss convicted on several counts of bribery, and ti took the fed years to catch up with them.

No firing squad though, it's off to "club fed".

Hell, our last DA was so corrupt, he took the full nickel ride for cashing his dead mothers social security checks, as opposed to being tried on the charges he was facing.

 

[Wasteman]

GO CHINA! At last something, I can approve of.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I thought you supported the "FREE MARKET". This is a pretty anti free market tactic china is taking. You're not suggesting that suppressing the free market is the right move, are you?

Ponzi Schemes and "Pump & Dumps" are illegal. The US Government should have clamped down on this scam years ago - but as China is showing, America is waning.

 

[Karlos95]

If the China energy problems are true, I think they just want to kill 2 birds with 1 stone: control of money (crypto doesn't fit that), and reduction of strain on grid.

You're right, it doesn't fit that, hence why everyone should use it. No one actually wants a gov controlled currency. Only dinosaurs who still don't get how their currency works.

And you are wrong with the energy thing. Every one knows majority of crypto miners use renewables. The only ones that don't are the small miners who would barely touch 1 banks branch energy use. But hey, if the agenda is there discredit something they don't believe in, then of course they'll continue to say how bad it is with "facts" that were outdated months ago.

"The study by the University of Cambridge in 2020 revealed that 76% of overall digital asset miners rely on different forms of renewable energy to sustain operations."

 

[captaincranky]

And you are wrong with the energy thing. Every one knows majority of crypto miners use renewables. The only ones that don't are the small miners who would barely touch 1 banks branch energy use. But hey, if the agenda is there discredit something they don't believe in, then of course they'll continue to say how bad it is with "facts" that were outdated months ago.

And this is why mining operations are buying retired power stations, "because they're renewable"?

It's nice to know somebody besides me had beans for dinner last night. Spare me the

 

[Karlos95]

And this is why mining operations are buying retired power stations, "because they're renewable"?

It's nice to know somebody besides me had beans for dinner last night. Spare me the

They know of 1 mining operator buying the plants.

Again, do some research and stop spouting headliners that clearly go against crypto.

Because most of what you say about Crypto is in fact

 

[captaincranky]

They know of 1 mining operator buying the plants.

Again, do some research and stop spouting headliners that clearly go against crypto.

Because most of what you say about Crypto is in fact

Right, which is why all the small timers here say say they make enough to offset their electric bills, renewable or otherwise.

You don't happen to have a volcano near your house, do you?

 

[Karlos95]

Right, which is why all the small timers here say say they make enough to offset their electric bills, renewable or otherwise.

You don't happen to have a volcano near your house, do you?

"which is why all the small timers here say say they make enough to offset their electric bills, renewable or otherwise." Ok, so we are going to take advice from people without a face and probably all have a different way of doing it. Non of which sound like the optimal way of doing it.

Again. RESEARCH.


Look into it a bit more please. It's getting old with all the unreliable crap "facts" you spout out. Stick to things you know a bit more about, like VHS I would assume, since you like old technology and don't want to grow with the times.

 

[captaincranky]

Look into it a bit more please. It's getting old with all the unreliable crap "facts" you spout out. Stick to things you know a bit more about, like VHS I would assume, since you like old technology and don't want to grow with the times.

Perhaps, but I confess to getting a big kick out of triggering miners in general, and you in particular...

 

[BadThad]

Excellent work China

You're praising the communists? While I'm not a crypto fan myself, I'm even a lesser fan of big government controlling peoples lives and even a lesser fan of communism (the ultimate of big, controlling governments). I find it quite odd that ANYONE in America supports the CCP. Yet, we have leftists here clamoring for communism. They are truly the ignorant!

 

[umbala]

Lots of authoritarians here, let's just ban everything...

Yes, everyone who doesn't agree with this wasteful crypto-nonsense must be an authoritarian!

 

[captaincranky]

You're praising the communists? While I'm not a crypto fan myself, I'm even a lesser fan of big government controlling peoples lives and even a lesser fan of communism (the ultimate of big, controlling governments). I find it quite odd that ANYONE in America supports the CCP. Yet, we have leftists here clamoring for communism. They are truly the ignorant!

Here's the thing, there never has been, a true "communist state". Both the USSR, and the PRC, are totalitarian regimes, nothing more, nothing less. While the "USSR" billed itself as "Socialist, (as does Russia), it is, in reality, and point of fact, no such thing. Today, Russia tries to pass itself of as "Democratic", but with Russian oligarchy, and essentially totalitarian control, it would be better described as a "capitalist police state"..

As you probably know, Karl Marx wrote, :The Communist Manifesto. It's, (IIRC), about 70 pages in length, (technically), but Mr. Marx keeps repeating himself about every 7 to 10 pages. (He becomes quite annoying at times).

However, the basic premise is the distribution of wealth somewhat equally between the classes, which he calls, "the Proletariat", and the "Bourgeoisie". The central point of his complaint isn't any different from today's "middle class", b!tching about why "capitalism sucks", because Jeff Bezos has a trillion dollar fortune, and we can't afford prescription drugs, our mortgages, or anything else, for that matter.

True Socialism, isn't the fire breathing monster you've been spoon fed propaganda to believe it to be

True Socialist Democracies work very well, but you have to investigate the governments of the Scandinavian.countries, to judge for yourself, if it's a system you could live under.

I would like to point out, that with vaccines, we've wiped small pox, (a deadly viral disease), off the face of the earth. In my era, (or was it long ago enough to be categorized as an "epoch"), your parents took you to be vaccinated against it Now, nobody has to worry about contracting it. There wasn't all this bullsh!t about our "freedoms being abridged", or anti vaxing cults. Yet we enjoyed the same freedoms we do now, perhaps even more so.

Just some food for thought. I tried to keep modern US politics out of this rant, since they are (IMO, of course), a disaster. And that's coming from someone who has lived under every president from Eisenhower to Biden..

So, I believe the far right, and the far left, are as bad as one another. But then, I'm part of a dying breed known as,"centrists".