Bitmain Pools Refuse To Process SegWit Transactions
Some of the largest mining pools owned by Bitmain abandoned all bitcoin transactions, which use the SegWit protocol. The unusual behavior of the mining pools AntPool and BTC.com was noticed by the Reddit users, a trader under the nickname WhalePanda reports on Twitter.
After mining almost all empty blocks in the beginning of the month, @AntPoolofficial has now completely stopped mining Segwit transactions. https://t.co/gFSrsQL4FQ
— WhalePanda (@WhalePanda) 29 октября 2018 г.
The SegWit protocol was activated in August 2017. It is designed to improve the performance of the Bitcoin network and reduce commission payments for miners. Therefore, some users assumed that AntPool and BTC.com decided to earn more money in such a way.
The user -johoe found out that AntPool mined four consecutive blocks, leaving many unprocessed SegWit transactions in the pool. At first, the commission for one of the blocks was insignificant and amounted to 0.04 BTC, but for the next block, which was received by the BTC.com pool, it increased to 0.24 BTC.
The user gizram84 calculated that the difference in 0.2 bitcoin equals to approximately $1280. Taking into account that the pool mines 20% of all the network blocks, its losses may amount to $13 million per year.
The community considered that this behavior could harm the business of the Bitmain pools. Besides, -johoe noted a good thing — the Bitcoin network has proven that it is not subject to censorship. He added that miners who take on the SegWit transactions still receive more benefits, unlike those who refuse them for ideological reasons.
A recent study revealed that AntPool used an inconsistent algorithm for AsicBoost mining in 2017, although the company denied the accusations. However, in October 2018, the leading mining equipment manufacturer Bitmain released Antminer S9, a device for mining bitcoins, which uses this algorithm.
