- Qubic mining pool seizes control of Monero’s $6 billion network.
- Ledger CTO confirms successful 51% attack threatening Monero’s decentralization.
- Blockchain reorganization enables Qubic to rewrite transactions and double-spend.
According to Charles Guillemet, chief technology officer at Ledger, Monero has been hit by a confirmed 51% attack. The privacy-centric cryptocurrency is currently worth $6 billion and is now controlled by the Qubic mining pool that has a market cap of slightly less than $300 million.
Guillemet elaborated that Qubic has gradually increased its hashrate over the last several months. This continuous growth has now allowed it to dominate most of the mining power of the Monero network, which is a massive imbalance of power.
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Qubic Mining Pool Gains Majority Power Over Monero
Earlier today, Guillemet reported detecting a major blockchain reorganization, which he believes confirms the attack’s success. Under the majority control, Qubic can now rewrite the blockchain’s history, choose which transactions to approve, and possibly engage in double-spending.
Qubic has also overpowered Monero (ranked 30th in the world), even though it is ranked 222nd in CoinMarketCap. Guillemet cautioned that such a change of control might result in censorship of transactions and a complete change in the balance of power amongst miners.
Privacy and Decentralization at Risk
This development is particularly troubling for Monero, given its strong focus on privacy and decentralization. These fundamental principles rely on a wide dispersion of mining power to guarantee security and avoid manipulation. Monero is also threatened by a lack of independence, having a single pool that controls the network.
Guillemet emphasized that the Monero community should take immediate measures to deal with this situation. Enabling Qubic to keep its dominance may compromise the trust in the network and reduce the value of Qubic as a secure privacy coin. The challenge will be finding an effective way to reduce Qubic’s influence without further destabilizing the network.
This incident highlights the potential vulnerabilities in proof-of-work cryptocurrencies when mining power becomes overly concentrated. A blockchain with a lower market value and a smaller blockchain has managed to gain control of a major privacy coin.
If the Monero network fails to respond effectively, the consequences could permanently reshape its future and erode confidence among both users and miners.
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