‘Phoenix’ Mines 90% of Bitcoin Cash Blocks in Two-Day Hashrate Spike

In an unprecedented event, a single entity has mined 90% of the blocks on the Bitcoin Cash network over two days, raising questions and concerns within the cryptocurrency community. Blockchain explorers reveal that 317 out of the 351 blocks mined on July 3 and July 4 were tagged with “Phoenix” and directed to the same coinbase payout address. Although this ratio has since dropped to 29% as of Friday, the impact of this surge remains significant, according to TheMinerMag.

Bitcoin Cash, which forked from the Bitcoin network in 2017, also uses the SHA-256 algorithm and targets a block production interval of every 10 minutes. The production of 351 blocks in just two days, compared to the usual average of 288, indicates a significant hashrate spike from the “Phoenix” miner. This surge led to the miner earning 992.52 BCH, valued at approximately $300,000.

The identity and strategy behind the “Phoenix” tag remain unclear. Despite Bitcoin’s hashprice being at an all-time low of around $44/PH/s, it still surpasses Bitcoin Cash’s hashprice of approximately $30/PH/s, making this surge even more intriguing.

Phoenix Group, an Abu Dhabi-listed bitcoin mining company, has launched Phoenix Pool, targeting both Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash networks. However, the company has not confirmed whether Phoenix Pool is associated with the recent “Phoenix” coinbase tag.

This event has raised significant concerns about network centralization and the potential implications for Bitcoin Cash. The ability of a single entity to dominate block production so thoroughly over a short period is rare and could have lasting effects on the network’s security and decentralization.