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ASIC resistance #142

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tarrenj opened this issue May 3, 2018 · 305 comments
Open

ASIC resistance #142

tarrenj opened this issue May 3, 2018 · 305 comments

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@tarrenj
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tarrenj commented May 3, 2018

Bitmain will begin shipping the Z9 Equihash miner soon. Let's use this thread to discuss ASIC resistance: Is it something we want to spend the time/resources to continue, or should we embrace ASICs? Staying ASIC resistant will likely require multiple updates in the future as ASICs progress, and would currently require updates to the core software, pool software, and mining software.

X16R and MTP have been mentioned several times, though the specifics of them have not yet been investigated:
https://github.com/zcoinofficial/zcoin/wiki/What-is-MTP-(Merkle-Tree-Proof)-and-why-is-it-an-ideal-Proof-of-Work-algorithm%3F
https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/files/1861292/X16R-Whitepaper.pdf

NeoScrypt is another interesting option, again, it has not been investigated as a potential Equihash replacement for ZenCash:
https://github.com/ghostlander/NeoScrypt

Interesting information:
ethereum/EIPs#958
https://forum.z.cash/t/let-s-talk-about-asic-mining/27353
ZcashFoundation/Elections#1
amiller/Elections@d082057
BTCGPU/BTCGPU#308

There is also interesting discussion taking place in the #general and #mining channels of the ZenCash Discord: https://discord.gg/zTd7C5

This is not a ZenIP, just a thread to continue the discussion. Please ignore typos until I can edit them out, as I'm on my phone...

@nikmit
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nikmit commented May 3, 2018

I'm not a part of the development team but for what it's worth will share what I think. The thread on the z.cash forum is very good and I generally agree with the first few posts in there that ASICs are bad news. I hope ZEN will manage to remain ASIC-resistant. It is a valid point however that in the long term this will require a substantial amount of development effort - so may be moving to an alternate algo is worth considering as an alternative. My personal opinion is that in the long term PoW will die away as a wasteful algorithm and will be replaced by better ones; that said ZEN should aim for stability above all and be very careful about changing core parts of the system.

@elkimek
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elkimek commented May 3, 2018

I say fork it until ASIC producement is a little bit less centralized. There are good prospects with Samsung and when ASIC-market situation is better, we can fork back to ASIC algorithms for networks security and sustainability.

@tarrenj
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tarrenj commented May 3, 2018

I say fork it until ASIC producement is a little bit less centralized. There are good prospects with Samsung and when ASIC-market situation is better, we can fork back to ASIC algorithms for networks security and sustainability.

We likely wouldn't need another fork, to enable it, we could just change our official stance and stop actively working to maintain our resistance.

@zapv0lt
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zapv0lt commented May 3, 2018

i suggest changing equihash params to use more RAM - they have suggested 144,5 on the zcash ASIC thread - https://forum.z.cash/t/let-s-talk-about-asic-mining/27353/70.

i think it will be much harder to develop an ASIC with large amounts of RAM, and parameters can also be updated again later as GPUs get more RAM

@tarrenj
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tarrenj commented May 3, 2018

@zapv0lt, ZeroCoin uses different Equihash params, however they also have many other changes, block header size for example. More research is needed to see if this would be a drop-in replacement, or if it would require multiple changes. Taking a look at zcash/zcash#2715 and the referenced issues would provide some insight.

@VoskCoin
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VoskCoin commented May 3, 2018

Personally I would like to see an algorithm adjustment, even scheduling regular adjustments quarterly. This would severely diminish the interest in ASIC R&D for ZenCash, even small changes should be enough to ensure that a firmware update for an ASIC miner would not be sufficient. Cryptonight heavy and cryptonightv7 would be great cases to review as they have most recently tackled this issue.

An important note is that when XMR changed their algorithm their network hashrate dropped over 80%, in a very short period that % of their network was overtaken by these miners and thus proves the potential threat that they could be.

Full disclosure I am a GPU Miner, but I also periodically have ASIC miners and even ordered this Z9 as ZenCash is my favorite project and no matter what direction is chosen I'd like to continue to acquire Zen.

While GPU mining is not perfect and not entirely decentralized it is massively more-so than ASIC miners (almost entirely produced by one central entity ->Bitmain)

I also created a livestream on the VoskCoin YT channel about this miner / potential impact

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnbkbbu6z2Q
youtubeliveytt

@A-RK6
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A-RK6 commented May 3, 2018

This new miner is either an FPGA with on board RAM (quite likely) or a full blown ASIC with some kind of very fancy (and expensive) linked memory module.
If it's an FPGA we're dealing with, finding an algorithm that you couldn't just reprogram the FPGA to mine will be extremely difficult. If it's an ASIC, the task of creating some kind of incompatibility by modifying or switching algo's would obviously be considerably easier.

Problem is, we have no technical specs for the Z9 so we could potentially put a load of effort into something that would only take a few days to reconfigure the Z9 to mine...

So I think we should spend some time trying to figure out what we're actually up against before trying to formulate a plan.

@tarrenj
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tarrenj commented May 3, 2018

@A-RK6 Great point. If we decide to maintain our ASCI resistance we'll need to understand the Z9 better to accurately resist it. Changing the EH params might not be sufficient...

Does anyone have any more information on the Z9, or any ideas on how to get it?

@Sto1cNate
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Sto1cNate commented May 3, 2018

As much as I do like the benefits ASICs can bring to help solve problems of block time variance and a few other benefits, I have a hard time making those pros out weight the giant con of a single manufacturer and distributor having so much control and influence. A new, unique to zen algorithm could also bring some nice attention to ZenCash as a project committed to decentralization. Don't we aim to be the most decentralized crypto? Maybe we can attract all the GPU hash power from Zcash?
This is a very difficult problem that needs some serious thought into finding a long term solution.
It has me thinking of closing down one of my secure nodes just to secure one of these ASICs as my GPUs will no longer be profitable for my power costs.

Full disclosure for myself. I run a small mining operation at home. Just sold off a 6 card 1070 rig and was recently shafted by Zotac in failing to deliver a 12 card order of 1070tis from an order in January. Now looking to expand and upgrade to many 12 card 1170 rigs when they are released this summer. I run many secure nodes and am looking to add at least one super node this summer. All my mining and node income goes back into the network to expand on nodes.

@elkimek
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elkimek commented May 4, 2018

@tarrenj My friends who are ASIC and GPU engineers can be very helpful with that matter. They are also working on new algo which might be difficult for ASICs to adapt. I've just connected them with Rolf via mail. Let's be little bit patient I have good faith with these guys, they can actually help.

@blockops1
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For large decisions that can have significant effects, I like to do a worst case/best case exercise. Identify the worst outcome of a decision, and balance it against the best case of the decision. It helps to actually quantify things in doing this as well.

Furthermore, part of this decision should be reviewing what the goals of the ZenCash project are and how the decisions to be made are consistent with the goals.

There are people making hardware purchasing decisions about this, and if too much of the entrenched hashrate comes from miners running ZenCash ASIC's then over time there will be a group of people wanting to maintain that hashrate. Making a decision on the direction to go is something that should be made withing a reasonable time period.

Choices under discussion so far that I have seen:

  • Do not change ZenCash Equihash algorithm
  • Modify the ZenCash Equihash algorithm to require more memory by changing parameters
  • Change the ZenCash algorithm to a different one already in use
  • Change the ZenCash algorithm to a completely new one

One of the things I have noticed as a cryptocurrency miner is that the cryptocurrency that is the first to have a new algorithm in many cases becomes the lead of that mining class. It may be because the ones that have their own algorithms also have developers that continue to create and improve the cryptocurrency, so it may be more due to the long term effect of active developers, and the same effect could be obtained by continued active development on the project.

@blockops1
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Some of the best discussion I have seen on the zcash github is in this issue zcash/zcash#1211

@blockops1
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blockops1 commented May 4, 2018

@bitcartel created a branch of zcash that allows for testing of different Equihash parameters, which would probably be useful to review. I will quote what he said in that zcash issue:
----begin quote

To help answer this ticket, I spent a few hours on the weekend and have a prototype based on v1.1.0-rc1 which allows equihash parameters to be changed for each network upgrade.

The code is in commit bitcartel/zcash@02397b6 on my branch here: https://github.com/bitcartel/zcash/tree/equihash_upgrade_parameters

Here is the output of solutions when switching parameters in regtest mode:
https://gist.github.com/bitcartel/49d1d028e31c482028327ae95debf045

Example usage in regtest mode:

./zcashd -nuparams=5ba81b19:10 -eqparams=5ba81b19:96:5
This activates branch 5ba81b19 at block 10, at which point the equihash parameters switch from (48, 5) to (96, 5). I also tried switching to (144, 5) and using -equihashsolver=tromp which appears to work fine, as does getblocktemplate.

The code should be useful for the community to build on and experiment with different solvers and parameters.
----end quote

@blockops1
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Here is an interesting experiment. Fork of zcash with different equihash parameters:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1796036.0

Current bitcointalk page: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3310714.msg34560204

website: https://zerocurrency.io/

@Sto1cNate
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Sto1cNate commented May 4, 2018

@blockops1 If we presuppose that it is possible that we are currently bearing some ASIC hash rate from Bitmain on our network, I would think the most pragmatic thing to do in this situation, would be to modify the existing equihash algorithm in the short term. Once too much hash rate comes onto the network from the ASICs, it will become increasingly difficult to fork away to being ASIC resistant again.
Once that has been accomplished, you can have some breathing room to develop a more comprehensive, in house POW algorithm. Perhaps look into what POW would provide the least amount of performance BIAS from either AMD or NVIDIA cards. Having more options for miners to support the network will help greatly. Maybe we could attract the hashing power from ETH and ZEC if we go this route?

@cryptomosk
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cryptomosk commented May 4, 2018

My bet is that the last four memory intensive machines will all be based on the same chip architecture (ETHASH, EQUIHASH, CRYPTONIGHT, BYTOM). Since they have advertised Sophon, their own AI architecture, I would say they are utilizing that. And I would further point out that forking to a similar cryptographic algorithm would have only a delaying effect on the adaptation of "ASIC" machines.

@bicheichane
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bicheichane commented May 4, 2018

Personally, I believe the biggest issue here is not so much ASIC's in general, but the fact that currently Bitmain is holding the ASIC monopoly. The way I see it, the argument against ASIC's would not be as central if there were several companies on the market competing between each other.. So I would propose striving to maintain ASIC resistance until that happens. What do you guys think of this?

@Sto1cNate
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@bicheichane Totally and completely agree. There is also another argument for availability to small miners. Distribution of these machines also has a great affect on how smaller miners acquire hardware. If you want to maintain a decentralized POW system, you need to think about the possibility of pushing small miners out of the market. Its not like I can go to my local computer hardware store, Best Buy, or Microcenter and pick up an ASIC any time soon. This may not apply in some of the Asian markets where they can do OTC sales of mining hardware. The limits ASIC manufacturers push on their customers (one per) really end up hurting smaller miners. Larger operations are given priority and access to make high volume orders of these machines. If the manufacturing and distribution of ASICs can be sorted out, then it would indeed be preferable to use ASICs. Slowly starting to see this get solved in ASICs for Bitcoin, but still a long way from distribution reaching a level the GPU market has been able to reach.

@aleqx
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aleqx commented May 4, 2018

Staying ASIC resistant will likely require multiple updates in the future as ASICs progress, and would currently require updates to the core software, pool software, and mining software.

Categorically against ASICs ... why is this even a question in the current context, particularly for a coin that has "anonymity" as part of its principles? Yes, it's going to take effort to fight them, obviously, but let's please not get complacent here if you care about the crypto space. Make it harder for the immoral ASIC manufacturers, not easier. The core idea was to take back control from banks and governments ... surely we remember that?

Mining with ASICs is no different. I'm talking about the current ASIC mining. Communism was also a good idea theoretically (those who raise an eyebrow should actually read about that), but all its implementations suck(ed) big time. With ASICs for mining currently we have manufacturers who:

  • first mine for themselves privately until it becomes less profitable than selling (see Monero's case).
  • then they first sell privately in huge volumes to a few key players.
  • then finally they sell "world-wide" to a few remaining schmucks who can barely get any after waiting for months.

Wasn't Zen in its inception days also touting "ASIC resistance? Are we now entertaining the option of giving that up because it's too much of a hassle and it's bound to happen sooner or later? It's certainly bound to happen if we remain idle. Complacency and paths of least resistance is how banks became so powerful over our lives over time.

It shouldn't be an option when "embracing" ASICs now would mean we'd put the coins we love at the behest of a single/handful of corporations and corrupt (+ totalitarian) government(s). We all kind of have a duty to uphold the opposite.

I won't beat the "centralization" drum. But chinese and russian centralization are worse than the average person knows it, including the average crypto person. Those who have contacts in China could attest to the astounding levels of corruption and how chinese energy companies are now the ones who mine, i.e. who own farms and Bitmain products. A lot of other chinese farms are getting energy for cheaper than market price from their energy company buddies. Regulators sometimes pretend to flex some muscle and ask farms to close, and then parse the spectacularly corrupt hierarchical tree of officials down to local officials, in bed with the farms, who simply reply "Uhmm, we have no farms here", or "We have shut it down" only to flip the switch back after 24h. Even if for some misguided reason we were to believe in the idea of benevolent centralization (as in benevolent dictatorship), the chinese or russian one are certainly not it. I'm not even going to mention the history of bad faith shown by ASIC manufacturers, or the callback home feature accusations, or comanies like Genesis Mining (and the likes) and their grotesque and imoral business model who have already affected both ASIC and GPU markets and are ripping customers off.

There's also the nonsense from the people touting ASICs are more energy efficient and thus more environmentally friendly (like this expert: https://download.wpsoftware.net/bitcoin/asic-faq.pdf). ASICs offer a benefit in Hashes/watt, but no fundamental benefit. That H/watt advantage only works if everyone else is on cpus/gpus. If everyone moves to ASICs then no benefit is gained at all. The Hashes/coin would rise astronomically and the same energy would then be burnt.

I would be very disappointed if the Zen team didn't make the effort to implement countermeasures, (whenever necessary) as long as we're in this ugly context described above. That founders fee it has enjoyed until now from all GPU miners would effectively turn into an endowment from Bitmain. Ughhh ...

@jpradotx
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jpradotx commented May 4, 2018

I really applaud 'aleqx' words.
There is not economic neither moral reasons to leave ZEN as bitmain-friendly. One of the main reasons for development of asic-resistant algos is to lower the entry barrier for the common guy, so the so called 'progress' in crypto is from asic-friendly (sha256) -> to asic-resistant (not the other way around), and that created HUGE value.
If ZEN mantains his asic-resistant principle, it is a huge opportunity to take market from ZEC. Community will stay together.
If ZEN becomes asic-friendly, it is very likely to split the community (fork).

Aleqx exposed very important principles and moral arguments to stays asic-resistant: ASIC manufactures are totally in bed and controlled by the totalitarian Chinese govertment. Which in turn support modern Tiranies worldwide like in Venezuela, where asic-mining is forbidden for the little guy and totally controlled by the Goverment, which is building mining farms to circunvent international sanctions. The citizens can only do GPU/CPU mining cause it is harder to be identified and controlled by the goverment.

@moyumz
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moyumz commented May 4, 2018

I'd also like to add to the discussion the issues we will face with accessibility if we were, as a community to allow Bitmain ASIC's into the network.

We will certainly be excluding a lot of potential participants whom are interested in ZEN and also burning existing contributors that have continued to support the network over the entirety of the project by essentially raising the cost of entry in order to mine, in excess of $2300USD and further factoring in powers costs as opposed to an individual purchasing consumer grade hardware which is much more affordable and accessible to many people around the world.

It would be in the community's best interest to fork against the Z9 Mini from Bitmain and continue being persistent in regards to ASIC Resistance so we can continue to enjoy diversity when it comes to consensus mechanisms and by not allowing one entity to essentially gain a monopoly over the network, which further solidifies their position and provides them with additional resources and capital to continue exploiting other networks and in particular our own.

In the spirit of decentralisation and fair mining, we should fork against the ASIC.

Please do right by those that have shown the community and network a commitment, support and valuable contributions.

@rocknet
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rocknet commented May 4, 2018

I guess I'll have to be one of the few dissenters. My thoughts are pretty perfectly reflected in this blog post, so I urge the anti-ASIC folks to read and consider this: https://pdaian.com/blog/anti-asic-forks-considered-harmful/.

If a project is profitable to mine, specialists will specialize. Why is no one upset about GPUs vs CPU mining anymore? That was truly one-cpu-one-vote if we want to be decentralization purists. Let's be perfectly honest that most pro-fork people are protecting their own interests. That's not a judgement, it's rational human nature, but I think it's a bit short-sighted.

I could run one of these with much less specialization than I currently had to do for my 8 GPU rig, and by the way, I can't even buy any for reasonable prices from NVidia (the "centralized" provider for Equihash). I wouldn't need a 240V line and the noise should be much less than your typical ASIC due to the fact they are only dissipating 300W.

I've never understood hurling the way-too-often-used "decentralization" maxim as an argument against more efficient mining. Bitmain is offering to sell these to people, one per person, for much less money and operating costs for the same hashrate. What would be centralized is if they didn't offer to sell them. A result which is much more likely if they know projects will fork when they offer them publicly.

I would much prefer the dev team to keep their eye on the ball and continue to deliver on adding value to the actual platform, the reason the project exists. I don't think a lot of time should be spent playing whack a mole.

@10kinds
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10kinds commented May 5, 2018

I tend to agree with rocknet on several points here. 10 kH/s at 1/5th the price of a GPU rig is lowering the barrier to entry, not raising it. Bitmain has done some shady stuff, no doubt, but their objective is to release hardware and profit from it... not dictate direction for projects (except maybe BCH and now BTM).

Whether or not ZEN forks won't matter to Bitmain. There will be a handful of Equihash coins that won't fork and those Z9 minis will be pointed there, and those projects will benefit from it. The question becomes, "How does ZEN get ready for the future?" Does the Z9 mini help ZEN get there? I think yes, but I realize that's not a popular thought.

@jordanmack
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ZenCash absolutely should not fork in response to Bitmain's announcement. A fork is an action that should not be taken lightly or as a knee-jerk reaction to the natural progression of technology. There is nothing inherently bad about ASICs. Every single GPU is technically an ASIC. Bitmain has simply produced a piece of hardware that is more efficient at the task than those currently in use. Why shouldn't Bitmain be allowed to compete with nVidia and AMD?

Efforts to promote decentralization are not without merit. It is known that CPUs and GPUs are more widely available than specialized ASIC hardware for numerous reasons. An effort towards decentralization in the form of accessibility is an approach that may warrant the effort. If algorithm changes are to occur specifically to promote decentralization, then should occur on an expected schedule, not in response to technical advancement.

ZenCash is already conducting research in DAG based technology. Since this will undoubtedly change the way the PoW system works, and algorithm change would be a more natural addition at that time. Efforts could also be made to investigate alternative PoW based systems which utilize the computing power for math or science in addition to securing the chain. There are already numerous papers that exist, but few have been implemented. Adopting this direction would undoubtedly be an advantage for the ZenCash ecosystem as a whole.

tldr; Bitmain's ASICs are not a problem. Don't rush out an algo change. If you want to promote decentralization, do it right, or don't do it at all.

@igorvoltaic
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igorvoltaic commented May 5, 2018

If we do not accept ASICs Nvidia and AMD will never improve their equipment or even might do that on purpose to have good profits with every new release of their GPU hardware. Bitmain is just a third player here no more no less. It might be that they already do have their own ASIC hardware which is not to be sold, isn't it?

@nikmit
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nikmit commented May 5, 2018

@rocknet I thing you missed what for me was the main argument in the @aleqx post: the unfair access and distribution of ASICs. As they are specialised for mining and most of the time offer huge advantages for miners using them, there is always the incentive to keep new products secret and accessible to select few and thus cheat the vast majority of the mining community. There is no comparison between GPUs and ASICs there, not because the Chinese (or Russians for that matter) are worse than anyone else but mainly because the advantage the next model of card offers over the previous one is much smaller, so the incentive is not there.
I also fully agree that ASICs are in no way more environmentally friendly. The only way to become environmentally friendly is to move away from PoW.

@PeaStew
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PeaStew commented May 5, 2018

@rocknet I'm agnostic, but the efficiency argument goes out the window when the difficulty increases due to the increased hashrate from the ASICs, effectively it is a zero sum game, as it was intended to be. The difference being that if the large miners are using ASICs and they are switched between different blockchains (opportunistic mining) as we have experienced recently with ZenCash, if all that is left is GPUs we will potentially have even longer blocks as a result and larger oscillations in difficulty, hashrate and therefore blocktime.

@NagyGa1
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NagyGa1 commented May 5, 2018

Sorry for the off, just a short note. Communism was never a good idea even theoretically, read up on the clear explanation by Ludwig von Mises some 100 years ago. Was clearly spelling out what is going to happen and why - no coincidence it happened that way.

@aleqx
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aleqx commented May 5, 2018

@NagyGa1 you're still discussing the implementation (at the time, future implementation given current context and predictions), not the idea. Self-policing works great in Switzerland, but would be a catastrophe in Somalia. Current ASIC "market" if further encouraged/embraced would be a similar catastrophe for crypto.

@NagyGa1
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NagyGa1 commented May 5, 2018

Self-policing works great in Switzerland, but would be a catastrophe in Somalia

Agree. But communism still necessarily does not work anywhere. :)

@aleqx
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aleqx commented Jun 17, 2018

@psyraxaus Yep, your explorer shows aggregate stats for the last 576 blocks, whereas this drooling behemoth only started ~14 blocks ago. At the rate I'm seeing blocks gobbled by it, 24h from now it would be at least 50% of the network (seems it's gobbling around 70% right now)

Ironic, as Zen just sent our its newsletter about preventing 51% attacks. Prevent this please!

@psyraxaus
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That is why I said that it will be interesting to watch that address

@aleqx
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aleqx commented Jun 17, 2018

At 12 blocks in 40 minutes, that's 3.33 minutes/block = 75% of Zen network ... literally owns the Zen blockchain.

// with my trader hat on, i'm also curious to see when it will start selling and how many "die hard" hodl'ers (even secure node'rs) it will knock

@aleqx
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aleqx commented Jun 17, 2018

@NagyGa1 I also noticed its rate was just behind Flypool. I had the same suspicion as you about it, and the fact that it's now gobbling 70-75% of Zen's network adds to my suspicion as there haven't been any Zen founders speaking in favor of ASICs until now, so Bitmain has no incentive to pretend or play nice, and it's just gobbling away the network.

20 blocks in 70 minutes so far = 71.4% of Zen's network (roughly).

// I think you mean t1XE1kWtsZAemy123KCcv2z3Fonbksnupka in your post above

@NagyGa1
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NagyGa1 commented Jun 17, 2018

Their original plan might have been to use multiple addresses to hide what they are doing (which would not have worked), but somewhere changed course and consolidated them into one.

@NagyGa1
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NagyGa1 commented Jun 17, 2018

Also note that Zooko and Bitmain has spoken on the 24th of May, Zooko publishing on 31st of May: https://forum.z.cash/t/so-i-had-a-videochat-with-jihan-wu/29379

That is exactly when the t1Q2QY83u7F7UvkwQR3ep1XyRmknP3syD7n address started to seriously scale up.

@psyraxaus
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psyraxaus commented Jun 17, 2018

@aleqx It is more like 21 blocks in 2 hours. Still a huge number though
screen shot 2018-06-17 at 12 59 45 pm

@aleqx
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aleqx commented Jun 17, 2018

@psyraxaus I stand corrected. When I posted I counted 20 from 2:27 GMT (which I thought was the first one) to 3:33. I see two blocks which took 20 minutes, kind of outliers for the rest. I predict ~60% average rate after a longer while.

@NagyGa1 Saw that post too. Applauded the comms skills of Bitmain's CEO (https://twitter.com/jihanwu/status/731902686379933697 -- "@MrHodl fuck your mother if you want fuck.") and the Bitmain ass-kissing of some pf the posters. One has to appreciate when the contentious aspect is not the behavior, but the cause of said behavior (more sad and petty than the former).

Zooko lost a lot of respect since he got in bed with Bitmain ...

@aleqx
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aleqx commented Jun 17, 2018

Also, Bitmain's Wu claims "77 x 10 ksols shipped from 27 may", i.e. 770 KSol/s, but that new miner has been doing on average 1 block every 6.7 minutes on Zcash for the past 1 week (1506 blocks in 1 week) -- that's 37% of the Zcash network by the way. Even if you assume they have been shipping 77 units / 4 days (judging from the date of the interview), that would make ~310 units operational during last week, so about 3.1 Msol/s.

Total network hashrate during last week was about 610 MSol/s.

That solo miner has been doing a whopping 225 MSol/s ...

Guess who's been doing that, because it sure wasn't doing 3.1 MSol/s? "We have never been doing a stealth mining strategy.”

EDIT: Corrected numbers above.

@NagyGa1
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NagyGa1 commented Jun 17, 2018

Agree, but I think it is more like 190MH. Flypool has 200MH, and it is slightly below.

@psyraxaus
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psyraxaus commented Jun 17, 2018

People are also buying from Innosilicon. Their initial order was for minimum 100 units at 50k Sols per unit using 620w power. And these have shipped, that means 5Msol minimum per order available to the miner. These could be coming online now

@aleqx
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aleqx commented Jun 17, 2018

@psyraxaus See above. Those units you mention give a mere 5 MSol/s ... the miner in question has been doing 225 MSol/s for the past 7-10 days.

@NagyGa1
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NagyGa1 commented Jun 17, 2018

People buying hardware from these guys are clearly the suckers at the end, based on how those figures look like.

@psyraxaus
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@aleqx 225 MSol/s on the zen network? Or on Zcash. Sorry I am a little confused. I would say that the user has roughly 25 MSols based on the number of blocks found (and increasing the hash as time goes by), slightly up from Suprnova on the zencash network. This is at a minimum due to the competition with suprnova for number of blocks found.

If they had 225 MSol/s on the zencash network, they would be finding more blocks than they are.

@aleqx
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aleqx commented Jun 17, 2018

@psyraxaus Zcash, prompted by the interview between Zooko and Bitmain's CEO (link above). I did mention Zcash network, and that the numbers are "during last week" and that it did 1500 blocks (it only started mining zen about 2.5h ago and has made 30 blocks). They are still mining Zcash, so they haven't moved the entire hashpower on Zen ... far from it.

Zcash, last block found 3 minutes ago (still active):
https://explorer.zcha.in/accounts/t1XE1kWtsZAemy123KCcv2z3Fonbksnupka

Zen, last block found 9 minutes ago:
http://explorer.zenmine.pro/insight/address/znXEXuRcmaZZtY8QPmbJqahVkeRzGCnDvrJ

p.s. We can't quite extrapolate hashrate yet on Zen, as the diff hasn't yet stabilized, only increased little so far. We should see it around 2M if not more, depending on how much hashrate this guy is throwing at it.

@psyraxaus
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psyraxaus commented Jun 17, 2018

I just did some further investigation and roughly 2 hours ago we observed the Zencash network Hashrate increased from 47582085 Sol/s at 2018-06-16 13:56:55 to 59373353 Sol/s at 2018-06-16 14:12:05
An increase of 24 percent!

Corresponds to the time that this miner started on the network

@aleqx
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aleqx commented Jun 17, 2018

@psyraxaus That's extrapolated from current diff, surely, assuming 2.5m block times, but the diff hasn't adjusted yet, because this guy has been doing 1 block every 5 mins or so, i.e. a theoretical 50% of the network if diff had caught up, but the diff has hardly increased much since yesterday (940k yesterday, 1070k now), so your Sol/s figure is not reflecting what is actually happening right now ... diff will be climbing a lot more if this guy keeps it up. Unless you meant to say "increase until now"

We should see diff around 2M or more soon, depending on how much hashrate this guy is throwing at it.

@psyraxaus
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psyraxaus commented Jun 17, 2018

@aleqx that was taken directly from the daemon reporting the getnetworksolps.

Current network sol 53568583

@aleqx
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aleqx commented Jun 17, 2018

@psyraxaus I believe the daemon is doing what I described, by default diff is taken as the average of the last 120 blocks (so even more inaccuracy given this guy just started): https://github.com/ZencashOfficial/zen/blob/b7a7c4c4199f5e9f49868631fe5f2f6de6ba4f9a/src/rpcmining.cpp#L40

Diff will continue to climb until it stabilizes. Diff readjustment is triggered every block, but takes a lot longer for diff to converge to a "stable" value. I remember when Genesis Mining (the other company I love so much) deployed their Boeing 747's full of Nvidia cards around mid-May last year, Zcash diff climbed for weeks, though they were probably adding GPUs over a longer time as well.

What I mean is that reported/computed values right now aren't reflecting what is going on at the moment, or at any other time that such big miners join/leave suddenly.

GPU miners who remain on Zen after this must really love Zen to still be spending on electricity to mine it, unless Bitmain decides they had enough fun with Zen in stealth mode and leave it be ... for now.

@aleqx
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aleqx commented Jun 17, 2018

Deleted: I realized I was going slightly off-topic, my apologies.

@NagyGa1
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NagyGa1 commented Jun 17, 2018

Meanwhile a few blocks mined by F2Pool on Zcash appears to be Bitmain based, judging by the nonces, e.g. this one: https://explorer.zcha.in/blocks/0000000008c112160bae0ba125bd29dc7293fa84da9c4298c3de7e4f9e015970

And, this new address popped up, also seems to be Bitmain: https://explorer.zcha.in/accounts/t1MwHFWMAJMtRywJXhDWDejUyfvvcQQDDgU

@NagyGa1
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NagyGa1 commented Jun 18, 2018

This guy appeared as well, mined 50 block so far, with the Bitmain specific nonce structure: https://explorer.zen-solutions.io/address/znZZMWeSK8JBPSyGivAa26C2gvipuhSqVh2

The interesting thing is that it mines blocks with the coinbase transaction including znXEXuRcmaZZtY8QPmbJqahVkeRzGCnDvrJ with 0 amount. Most likely it is a bug they left in their software that tries to hide the fact that the two address are the same entity. See: https://explorer.zen-solutions.io/tx/74e1e6a275e97f431384f1c827cff23dd1f42b896e15dcd50d1f22f2e3d5db39

@aleqx
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aleqx commented Jun 22, 2018

3124 ZEN in 5 days. That's 26 ZEN per hour. Still nothing compared to the mining hashpower thrown at Zcash above. We could even say ZEN has been spared, for now.

@NagyGa1
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NagyGa1 commented Jun 23, 2018

Depends how you look at it. 50% of the ZEN blocks are mined now by Bitmain related addresses, they just introduced a few new ones.

@tarrenj
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tarrenj commented Jun 23, 2018

@NagyGa1 Can you post a source for this please?

@NagyGa1
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NagyGa1 commented Jun 23, 2018

Sure.

  1. The structure of the nonce can be observed and a lot can be told about the a) pool software, b) mining software of the entity that mined the block. It is because the pool software constructs the extranonce part (usually the rightmost some bits) and the mining software (/ hardware) adds on the original nonce-part (left side) of the nonce. It is like a fingerprint.
  2. At the end of May 2018, the typical nonces of blocks on ZEC looked like this:
     height                              miner2                                                            nonce                time
1    331791                             Flypool 0400000000000000000000000000000000000000000000018d6aa0a2f845c805 2018-05-29 23:56:57
2    331790                             Flypool 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000062301bf7cafbc1c01 2018-05-29 23:52:57
3    331789                             Flypool 0000000000000000000000000f292c0ea1f0d09531522790d6730122beca4704 2018-05-29 23:49:45
4    331788                             Flypool 06000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000522e07d4115e00e06 2018-05-29 23:49:20
5    331787                            Suprnova 000015710000000000000000000000019d4a8d070000000000000000078d4a9e 2018-05-29 23:42:06
6    331786                             Flypool 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000bf19e49bf45b50d20 2018-05-29 23:41:54
7    331785                            Nanopool 02000000000000000000000009eedf041914074516698d3200000000000024f7 2018-05-29 23:41:30
8    331784                              F2Pool 03000000000000000000000005d9247600000000000000000000000000000000 2018-05-29 23:38:02
9    331783                             Flypool 010000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000a3a59812f99a4200 2018-05-29 23:32:23
10   331782                             Flypool 01000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000b3c2d62774fd6c211 2018-05-29 23:31:45
11   331781                             Flypool 0000000000000000000000001a6bdb67d6543af3347ae913fc8fcc1b92fc8302 2018-05-29 23:29:52
12   331780                             Flypool 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000099a99491ef39f05 2018-05-29 23:26:57
13   331779                       MiningPoolHub 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000ab6b87384003d 2018-05-29 23:24:05
14   331778                            Nanopool 0500000000000000000000000a8977d0079c5512e267a21a0000000000006a91 2018-05-29 23:22:04
15   331777                             Flypool 0200000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003d167fd05db12f06 2018-05-29 23:19:20
16   331776                             Flypool 00000000000000000000000005056951e5d168e9cc6d9b75b96f05c10e54e011 2018-05-29 23:16:52
17   331775                            Nanopool 010000000000000000000000007465982fa4abf26fac1c7c0000000000003e86 2018-05-29 23:16:12
18   331774                             Flypool 0300000000000000000000000000000000000000000000015c68aa83a94df705 2018-05-29 23:08:48
19   331773                             Flypool 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000ae8a33c9724fff220 2018-05-29 23:05:46
20   331772                            Nanopool 0000000000000000000000001a02c2002efade43b33fab1c00000000000269a0 2018-05-29 23:05:11
21   331771                       MiningPoolHub 000000000000000000000000174fdeecb56bb293c59285d315edfc1b35930002 2018-05-29 23:02:11
22   331770                             Flypool 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000a6544716cd43d7b01 2018-05-29 22:58:52
23   331769                             Flypool 03000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000e1b19fa5500fd4705 2018-05-29 22:56:32
24   331768                              F2Pool 000000000000000000000000000011c000000000000000000000000000000000 2018-05-29 22:56:25
25   331767                             Flypool 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000d57fba9014320 2018-05-29 22:53:23
26   331766                             Flypool 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000057138cbb166d4020 2018-05-29 22:52:55
27   331765                             Flypool 0200000000000000000000000000000000000000000000020a0afdb26b0d0000 2018-05-29 22:34:44
28   331764                       MiningPoolHub 040000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000094a0bf74f49003f 2018-05-29 22:34:39
29   331763                             Flypool 0000000000000000000000000c700f000000000000000000000000621fad5b01 2018-05-29 22:30:07
30   331762                             Flypool 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001441fc3a5863bb0604 2018-05-29 22:28:56
31   331761                              F2Pool 0000000000000000000000000015047d00000000000000000000000000000000 2018-05-29 22:26:16
32   331760                             Flypool 0400000000000000000000000000000000000000000000080817555a4219cd01 2018-05-29 22:25:43
33   331759                             Flypool 000000000000000000000000000000010000de30000000000000006cde3f4906 2018-05-29 22:23:55
34   331758                             Flypool 000000000000000000000000aae90d071e9dcade50be0500cc3bebc5a2db5002 2018-05-29 22:22:28
  1. Around two weeks ago the ZEN network blocks looked like this:
    height                              miner2                                                            nonce                time
1   322511                       MiningPoolHub 00000000000000000000000065fb28580ae1d6381f2f05d698d3e1412032003d 2018-06-10 23:49:09
2   322510                            Suprnova 030000000000000000000000046a0bc099cce977000000000000000077e9cc9a 2018-06-10 23:43:20
3   322509                       MiningPoolHub 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002a72008dce280025 2018-06-10 23:14:49
4   322508                       MiningPoolHub 040000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000061841d31b710003 2018-06-10 23:14:23
5   322507                       MiningPoolHub 000000000000000000000000933e010869ddd0a562a38952f1bcbae1ce150025 2018-06-10 23:13:20
6   322506 znfu8wLQcUVdk1dPiEKxXEVxEjLYqYS4CcL 000000000000000000000000010000033363f85957e709000000000000000000 2018-06-10 23:06:31
7   322505                            Suprnova 00000000000000000000000000006b95f564ea77000000000000000077ea64f6 2018-06-10 23:05:47
8   322504                       MiningPoolHub 0200000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000827c51daf680026 2018-06-10 23:02:21
9   322503                      crypto-zcl/ZEN 000000000000000000000000a3d071db64d530dfa0108e6da3f8301531c41f80 2018-06-10 22:48:06
10  322502                            Suprnova 020000000000000000000000020736f28d8ee577000000000000000077e58e8e 2018-06-10 22:46:11
11  322501                            Suprnova 0600000000000000000000000bbf9278b137fc07000000000000000007fc37b2 2018-06-10 22:45:31
12  322500 znb1FGiHKyyvCfMvcTr33obQrP5jm4eRuRE 00000000000000000000000000000000008a4ccb880d00000000000001000000 2018-06-10 22:44:49
13  322499                       MiningPoolHub 00000000000000000000000039100a002fa5fff23dfc14fd0000000095730003 2018-06-10 22:44:07
14  322498                            Suprnova 010000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000005543f6380057ca 2018-06-10 22:42:32
15  322497                       MiningPoolHub 000000000000000000000000b519fc5e5b33804a0e7e75e763b755ec2945003e 2018-06-10 22:38:25
16  322496 znb1FGiHKyyvCfMvcTr33obQrP5jm4eRuRE 000000000000000000000000af3d93244dbf2c230c0d00000000000001000000 2018-06-10 22:37:35
17  322495                       MiningPoolHub 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002db2bf7b80610026 2018-06-10 22:37:29
18  322494                       MiningPoolHub 0500000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000018f49b767c0026 2018-06-10 22:36:17
19  322493                       MiningPoolHub 05000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003df2afeb84e0003 2018-06-10 22:34:36
20  322492                      crypto-zcl/ZEN 0a0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000033de910a3be1e80 2018-06-10 22:34:01
21  322491                       MiningPoolHub 000000000000000000000000283e05002781b5e437c68f260000000030320026 2018-06-10 22:33:48
22  322490 zngqrJBzt7nxnrcfvtL1AVKEujq8FVU2uHR 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000007864fcfb8adfe03e 2018-06-10 22:31:50
23  322489 znb1FGiHKyyvCfMvcTr33obQrP5jm4eRuRE 00000000000000000000000036fede1aae5cac5b2e0c00000000000001000000 2018-06-10 22:30:23
24  322488                      crypto-zcl/ZEN 00000000000000000000000011a56890b0bf73e10b8433103632d9bc61ab1e80 2018-06-10 22:30:19
25  322487 znb1FGiHKyyvCfMvcTr33obQrP5jm4eRuRE 00000000000000000000000034cdf09cf2a1ea07130c00000000000001000000 2018-06-10 22:29:39
26  322486 znb1FGiHKyyvCfMvcTr33obQrP5jm4eRuRE 04000000000000000000000000000004182faa6a3a0c00000000000001000000 2018-06-10 22:29:30
27  322485                      crypto-zcl/ZEN 0000000000000000000000008f68cb712ff8d81671c8de413509b7ed840a1f80 2018-06-10 22:28:13
28  322484                            Suprnova 00000000000000000000000010073d00d9c4060000000000000000000006c4d8 2018-06-10 22:27:50
29  322483                      crypto-zcl/ZEN 0000000000000000000000009080a32e6c69e23d31acae58a6616b4923081f80 2018-06-10 22:23:22
30  322482 znfu8wLQcUVdk1dPiEKxXEVxEjLYqYS4CcL 000000000000000000000000000000000e5f9f336f300e000000000000000000 2018-06-10 22:22:08
31  322481                            Suprnova 000000000000000000000000001f96989d91177000000000000000007017919c 2018-06-10 22:20:59
32  322480 znb1FGiHKyyvCfMvcTr33obQrP5jm4eRuRE 000004ee000000000000000000000000000001183a0c00000000000001000000 2018-06-10 22:18:10
33  322479                            Suprnova 00000000000000000000000024a5f1cc3794e677000000000000000077e69438 2018-06-10 22:17:22
34  322478 znb1FGiHKyyvCfMvcTr33obQrP5jm4eRuRE 000000000000000000000000f74e2951a640831ef70b00000000000001000000 2018-06-10 22:16:13
35  322477                       MiningPoolHub 0000000000000000000000000bf75b002d16b28fe35af91a000000002f4f0102 2018-06-10 22:15:29
36  322476 znb1FGiHKyyvCfMvcTr33obQrP5jm4eRuRE 000012bd0000000000000000000000000000039afb0a00000000000001000000 2018-06-10 22:12:41
37  322475                      crypto-zcl/ZEN 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002629169eb01e80 2018-06-10 22:12:13
38  322474 znb1FGiHKyyvCfMvcTr33obQrP5jm4eRuRE 00000000000000000000000000000000001a762eb80b00000000000001000000 2018-06-10 22:08:59
39  322473 znb1FGiHKyyvCfMvcTr33obQrP5jm4eRuRE 010000000000000000000000000000028d5d2cf02b0b00000000000001000000 2018-06-10 22:06:00
40  322472                            Suprnova 00000000000000000000000000003079af44ea77000000000000000077ea44b0 2018-06-10 22:05:19
41  322471                            Suprnova 000000000000000000000000a39e92c7017c1770000000000000000070177c00 2018-06-10 21:56:58
42  322470 znTyzLKM4VrWjSt8eyS7DQeJgueyT73kSRM 040000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000005b32f4bbf7ff3f 2018-06-10 21:48:32
43  322469 znfu8wLQcUVdk1dPiEKxXEVxEjLYqYS4CcL 000000000000000000000000000000000489f8e4e43d0f000000000000000000 2018-06-10 21:43:16
44  322468 znb1FGiHKyyvCfMvcTr33obQrP5jm4eRuRE 000000000000000000000000718358a10d7440709d0a00000000000001000000 2018-06-10 21:41:02
45  322467                            Suprnova 0000000000000000000000006009b8561b13f607000000000000000007f6131c 2018-06-10 21:40:53
46  322466 znTyzLKM4VrWjSt8eyS7DQeJgueyT73kSRM 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000013840df558090038 2018-06-10 21:40:10
47  322465 znb1FGiHKyyvCfMvcTr33obQrP5jm4eRuRE 000000000000000000000000a6c2491bf4b32ba6b20900000000000001000000 2018-06-10 21:34:40
48  322464 znb1FGiHKyyvCfMvcTr33obQrP5jm4eRuRE 0000a743000000000000000000000000000006b2840900000000000001000000 2018-06-10 21:32:45
49  322463 znd8rcAKaRyRqXZK4XRDFmnop1KwdT61Jkt 0500000000000000000000000000000000000000231988db0e467c74ffffff7f 2018-06-10 21:32:22
  1. Note how the different entities are constructing very different nonces, e.g. Nanopool did 0500000000000000000000000a8977d0079c5512e267a21a0000000000006a91 where it gave 0000000000006a91 as extranonce to the miner and the miner added on the sequence number a8977d0079c5512e267a21a and a 05 to the left, probably some sub-miner process number.
    Or on ZEN the address znb1FGiHKyyvCfMvcTr33obQrP5jm4eRuRE creates this weird 6b20900000000000001000000 style extranonce with the fixed 01 byte, 4th from the right.
    But I can also tell other things, e.g. znd8rcAKaRyRqXZK4XRDFmnop1KwdT61Jkt uses an unpatched Z-Nomp with the extranonce bug included and buys from NiceHash, and as a result will disappear shortly because will definitely make a lot of losses for itself.

@NagyGa1
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NagyGa1 commented Jun 23, 2018

  1. We know with near sure certainty that znXEXuRcmaZZtY8QPmbJqahVkeRzGCnDvrJ and later t1XE1kWtsZAemy123KCcv2z3Fonbksnupka are Z9 / Bitmain sourced, because of the circumstances they popped up at early June and within days ruled 40% of the ZEC network, out of nowhere. (Days after Zooko and Bitmain had a friendly chat, etc.) See previous posts.
  1. These addresses constructed nonces like 698d5b470000000000000000000000000000000000000000003813c87d010020 and 538b4b2b000000000000000000000000000000000000000000409268ca6fff7f. Note how the leftmost 4 bytes are densely populated, 698d5b47 and 538b4b2b. Note how none of the ZEC and ZEN blocks of the end-may and mid-june sample are having these bits populated by that.

@NagyGa1
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NagyGa1 commented Jun 23, 2018

  1. Today the ZEC networks looks like this:
      height                              miner2                                                            nonce                time
1     346185                              F2Pool 77a3e45c00000000000000000016855000000000000000000000000000000000 2018-06-24 02:04:26
2     346184                              F2Pool 01000000000000000000000001ad75d900000000000000000000000000000000 2018-06-24 02:01:46
3     346183                              F2Pool 02000000000000000000000001c4865000000000000000000000000000000000 2018-06-24 02:00:04
4     346182 t1Y4mgScLti1s34992wt4bimnwSZEiaB7S1 275818080000000000000000000000000000000000000000000c88b64b000028 2018-06-24 01:55:23
5     346181                              F2Pool c42e036400000000000000000004888900000000000000000000000000000000 2018-06-24 01:54:39
6     346180 t1MwHFWMAJMtRywJXhDWDejUyfvvcQQDDgU b5d5d60b00000000000000000000000000000000000000000025a93358010000 2018-06-24 01:53:45
7     346179 t1fjzvQoumv4cMMdWGJwgtQZnwFQ7R6p77C 36e50b6c0000000000000000000000000000000000000000001852a84b010020 2018-06-24 01:50:33
8     346178 t1XMMxTtZtSyQBEH8MgN6Lcc5rfKMDA4XT4 f6b385130000000000000000000000000000000000000000000470feccffff7f 2018-06-24 01:49:57
9     346177 t1RwbKka1CnktvAJ1cSqdn7c6PXWG4tZqgd 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000008481db579fa053610 2018-06-24 01:46:02
10    346176 t1XMMxTtZtSyQBEH8MgN6Lcc5rfKMDA4XT4 0f8b512b0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000c13cfc5ffff17 2018-06-24 01:45:54
11    346175 t1S4ydQEgzgLuWWvHiRBfcqW7AFE3RssVHy 000000000000000000000000dc72d8c87b95f1af26ace0c22677a9e926a10000 2018-06-24 01:45:05
12    346174 t1MwHFWMAJMtRywJXhDWDejUyfvvcQQDDgU 5ce8503100000000000000000000000000000000000000000029591758010018 2018-06-24 01:43:41
13    346173 t1XMMxTtZtSyQBEH8MgN6Lcc5rfKMDA4XT4 d1fe7535000000000000000000000000000000000000000000440c453cfdff07 2018-06-24 01:43:36
14    346172 t1S4ydQEgzgLuWWvHiRBfcqW7AFE3RssVHy 000022a40000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000120fd80000 2018-06-24 01:42:15
15    346171                            Nanopool 0100000000000000000000000eb2218b03ef569a0a8eee180000000000003f1b 2018-06-24 01:39:23
16    346170                              F2Pool 8603e2770000000000000000002371ea00000000000000000000000000000000 2018-06-24 01:37:24
17    346169 t1S4uXhcN7PYSDXttVCcR8SokhHJz12BBz3 17fe8e160000000000000000001625f704020002000000000000000000000000 2018-06-24 01:36:11
18    346168                       MiningPoolHub 0300000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000389781188240052 2018-06-24 01:35:06
19    346167 t1MwHFWMAJMtRywJXhDWDejUyfvvcQQDDgU 3b50ae2e000000000000000000000000000000000000000000080e224b000000 2018-06-24 01:34:04
20    346166                              F2Pool dcff186d0000000000000000004459ac00000000000000000000000000000000 2018-06-24 01:32:39
21    346165 t1RwbKka1CnktvAJ1cSqdn7c6PXWG4tZqgd 03000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000009414bfd415ea201 2018-06-24 01:29:47
22    346164                              F2Pool 623b66360000000000000000002546c200000000000000000000000000000000 2018-06-24 01:22:28
23    346163 t1RwbKka1CnktvAJ1cSqdn7c6PXWG4tZqgd 0300000000000000000000000000000000000000000000017529bc2a6d167500 2018-06-24 01:20:03
24    346162 t1RwbKka1CnktvAJ1cSqdn7c6PXWG4tZqgd 04000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000afe3010ee11b14805 2018-06-24 01:17:40
25    346161 t1XMMxTtZtSyQBEH8MgN6Lcc5rfKMDA4XT4 b465b76d0000000000000000000000000000000000000000001d2cf513ffff07 2018-06-24 01:17:24
26    346160                           Coinotron 00001e6f00000000000000000000010000000000000000000000000000000aee 2018-06-24 01:15:04
27    346159 t1RwbKka1CnktvAJ1cSqdn7c6PXWG4tZqgd 020000000000000000000000000000000000000000000010eb6bda8499bc4200 2018-06-24 01:14:56
28    346158                              F2Pool 601bcb0600000000000000000027238800000000000000000000000000000000 2018-06-24 01:14:30
29    346157                       MiningPoolHub 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000f70dba03004e 2018-06-24 01:12:18
30    346156 t1XMMxTtZtSyQBEH8MgN6Lcc5rfKMDA4XT4 9da7dd13000000000000000000000000000000000000000000295ed8a2020008 2018-06-24 01:09:53
31    346155 t1ZYZS6ynUDbvht7vH3dMiM3rsAJ1p6EGWC 2053936b00000000000000000000000000000000002b6b8f00000000000007a9 2018-06-24 01:03:48
32    346154 t1S4uXhcN7PYSDXttVCcR8SokhHJz12BBz3 bf9d24480000000000000000002b286aa4010002000000000000000000000000 2018-06-24 01:03:33
33    346153                              F2Pool 0200000000000000000000001571323000000000000000000000000000000000 2018-06-24 01:02:05
34    346152 t1RwbKka1CnktvAJ1cSqdn7c6PXWG4tZqgd 000000000000000000000000fe98d2ab9416a96d23751ba5dfc80c172408e500 2018-06-24 00:55:04
35    346151 t1XMMxTtZtSyQBEH8MgN6Lcc5rfKMDA4XT4 f35fb50c0000000000000000000000000000000000000000002f5608ae010058 2018-06-24 00:54:35
36    346150                       MiningPoolHub 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003d9751909004e 2018-06-24 00:54:05
37    346149                              F2Pool 14452b670000000000000000004a0b4600000000000000000000000000000000 2018-06-24 00:53:50
38    346148 t1fjzvQoumv4cMMdWGJwgtQZnwFQ7R6p77C c2a0ae0d000000000000000000000000000000000000000000142352ceffff5f 2018-06-24 00:51:58
39    346147 t1XMMxTtZtSyQBEH8MgN6Lcc5rfKMDA4XT4 4338967a000000000000000000000000000000000000000000041b3964feff27 2018-06-24 00:50:54
40    346146                              F2Pool 5aa565020000000000000000000c038d00000000000000000000000000000000 2018-06-24 00:48:07
41    346145 t1MwHFWMAJMtRywJXhDWDejUyfvvcQQDDgU d19fc22400000000000000000000000000000000000000000012534876010010 2018-06-24 00:41:19

and the ZEN network looks like this:

     height                              miner2                                                            nonce                time
1    329973 znn86jpizvGKsMdhGn6urzXYQkNAgwVNDW7 68373842000000000000000000000000000000000000000000388874cb000050 2018-06-24 02:24:19
2    329972                            Suprnova 050000000000000000000000040435745f06000800000000000000000800065e 2018-06-24 02:21:25
3    329971 znn86jpizvGKsMdhGn6urzXYQkNAgwVNDW7 eeb2a56700000000000000000000000000000000000000000012ab31a0000050 2018-06-24 02:16:28
4    329970 znn86jpizvGKsMdhGn6urzXYQkNAgwVNDW7 cf1869740000000000000000000000000000000000000000000854feb2000008 2018-06-24 02:15:05
5    329969 znn86jpizvGKsMdhGn6urzXYQkNAgwVNDW7 2da5345d000000000000000000000000000000000000000000314c8e82010008 2018-06-24 02:08:15
6    329968 znn86jpizvGKsMdhGn6urzXYQkNAgwVNDW7 0206d32c000000000000000000000000000000000000000000314d5f69010008 2018-06-24 02:07:50
7    329967 znVPP1YasUfkeNFU8SCXUPzEWyYojF1XVRL 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000270c05b5da0000 2018-06-24 02:06:09
8    329966 znn86jpizvGKsMdhGn6urzXYQkNAgwVNDW7 0206d32c0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000610a37d010008 2018-06-24 02:06:01
9    329965                            Suprnova 0000000000000000000000008d80e6421d6cfd77000000000000000077fd6c1e 2018-06-24 02:05:24
10   329964 znn86jpizvGKsMdhGn6urzXYQkNAgwVNDW7 4062b4130000000000000000000000000000000000000000001688aa9f000050 2018-06-24 02:04:40
11   329963 znS5ChjbaxCWLVzKZ95Tyea3Yy9eoqxtF5w 883d45000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003e416062ffff7f 2018-06-24 02:04:18
12   329962 znVPP1YasUfkeNFU8SCXUPzEWyYojF1XVRL 000000000000000000000000931cb4966851a6ff4f265999e0a0d1a476db0000 2018-06-24 02:04:03
13   329961 znVPP1YasUfkeNFU8SCXUPzEWyYojF1XVRL 0000156200000000000000000000000000000000000000000000025e00e50000 2018-06-24 02:03:26
14   329960 zngqrJBzt7nxnrcfvtL1AVKEujq8FVU2uHR 01000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000360cef043b8a9a 2018-06-24 02:01:18
15   329959 znTyzLKM4VrWjSt8eyS7DQeJgueyT73kSRM 000000000000000000000000c656ad1b81f615bbaef5e365a19bddbd5a010070 2018-06-24 01:59:07
16   329958 znn86jpizvGKsMdhGn6urzXYQkNAgwVNDW7 8d421e600000000000000000000000000000000000000000003a7c1839010050 2018-06-24 01:57:47
17   329957                       MiningPoolHub 0200000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000067dc40951d0004 2018-06-24 01:57:00
18   329956 znn86jpizvGKsMdhGn6urzXYQkNAgwVNDW7 8748784e00000000000000000000000000000000000000000023151b85010008 2018-06-24 01:53:59
19   329955 znn86jpizvGKsMdhGn6urzXYQkNAgwVNDW7 28b5e34a0000000000000000000000000000000000000000001b685881010008 2018-06-24 01:46:05
20   329954 zniBEKwgRJysSjm2psig5BdcyQTtRgU9PZE 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000070c53cc1fff5f 2018-06-24 01:38:18
21   329953 znVPP1YasUfkeNFU8SCXUPzEWyYojF1XVRL 00000e250000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002c51baf0000 2018-06-24 01:36:36
22   329952                            Suprnova 0000000000000000000000006ffcb08899540440000000000000000040045498 2018-06-24 01:29:46
23   329951 znn86jpizvGKsMdhGn6urzXYQkNAgwVNDW7 3f315a11000000000000000000000000000000000000000000024199bf000008 2018-06-24 01:25:21
24   329950                            Suprnova 0100000000000000000000002e6bb8e447000070000000000000000070000046 2018-06-24 01:23:04
25   329949 znS5ChjbaxCWLVzKZ95Tyea3Yy9eoqxtF5w 36d37a700000000000000000000000000000000000000000000a879d50ffff7f 2018-06-24 01:22:16
26   329948                            Suprnova 06000000000000000000000003b3428629bdd547000000000000000047d5bd2a 2018-06-24 01:17:51
27   329947 znS5ChjbaxCWLVzKZ95Tyea3Yy9eoqxtF5w 3ef5e8450000000000000000000000000000000000000000004670895bffff5f 2018-06-24 01:17:14
28   329946                            Suprnova 01000000000000000000000000a52995efd5024800000000000000004802d5ee 2018-06-24 01:17:04
29   329945 znS5ChjbaxCWLVzKZ95Tyea3Yy9eoqxtF5w 2700d5380000000000000000000000000000000000000000003e30434cffff17 2018-06-24 01:14:42
30   329944                            Suprnova 0000000000000000000000001955fad3519b0348000000000000000048039b50 2018-06-24 01:09:36
31   329943                        2miners-solo 00000000000000000000000000000000029ca2abfd3300000000000000000000 2018-06-24 01:09:06
32   329942                            Suprnova 070000000000000000000000296e7966496efe67000000000000000067fe6e4a 2018-06-24 01:08:39
33   329941 znS5ChjbaxCWLVzKZ95Tyea3Yy9eoqxtF5w d0053249000000000000000000000000000000000000000000252c9f8c000000 2018-06-24 01:08:16
34   329940 znn86jpizvGKsMdhGn6urzXYQkNAgwVNDW7 c9dc48000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001606ce37010008 2018-06-24 01:02:43
35   329939 znS5ChjbaxCWLVzKZ95Tyea3Yy9eoqxtF5w 3a01ee16000000000000000000000000000000000000000000232fbda7ffff17 2018-06-24 01:02:27
36   329938 znS5ChjbaxCWLVzKZ95Tyea3Yy9eoqxtF5w 2699784f0000000000000000000000000000000000000000003a1371d1ffff7f 2018-06-24 00:59:34
37   329937 znS5ChjbaxCWLVzKZ95Tyea3Yy9eoqxtF5w 71e8681b000000000000000000000000000000000000000000291c53d4000000 2018-06-24 00:57:34
38   329936 znn86jpizvGKsMdhGn6urzXYQkNAgwVNDW7 3204a67100000000000000000000000000000000000000000002071685ffff0f 2018-06-24 00:54:46
39   329935 znn86jpizvGKsMdhGn6urzXYQkNAgwVNDW7 6614904b000000000000000000000000000000000000000000108381d3000010 2018-06-24 00:52:14
40   329934 znn86jpizvGKsMdhGn6urzXYQkNAgwVNDW7 401572170000000000000000000000000000000000000000003e129cde000008 2018-06-24 00:50:17
41   329933 znn86jpizvGKsMdhGn6urzXYQkNAgwVNDW7 e874b01c000000000000000000000000000000000000000000296449c0feff0f 2018-06-24 00:46:04

and the ZCL network, which is so far clean of Bitmain miner fingerprints, looks like this:

   height                              miner2                                                            nonce                time
1  337300 t1KVdvhNYFGgCThu8ac6oBLQcG1rVWTZRfY 0000000000000000000000004f4f1240ac20db6ff1e8444c83ffff0f70ca1143 2018-06-24 01:10:54
2  337299 t1KVdvhNYFGgCThu8ac6oBLQcG1rVWTZRfY 060000000000000000000000000000000d54f3067b3b918a7c00007070ca1143 2018-06-24 01:10:07
3  337298                       MiningPoolHub 0300000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001bbabe266413002e 2018-06-24 01:06:03
4  337297 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 000049f70000000000000000000000000000000000000000000004520fc90000 2018-06-24 01:05:12
5  337296 t1dH7PmLf88MLmBSSjsmNhqEvfcningFd23 0000000000000000000000000000000000ce684e6c13c9a87a5116a44a1e874e 2018-06-24 01:04:35
6  337295 t1KVdvhNYFGgCThu8ac6oBLQcG1rVWTZRfY 0000093600000000000000000000000000000295961380907500007870ca1143 2018-06-24 01:02:31
7  337294 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 000031020000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003dae8cb0000 2018-06-24 01:00:06
8  337293 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 0423aa6c00000000000000000000000000000000000000000e28d68048d00000 2018-06-24 00:59:52
9  337292 t1dH7PmLf88MLmBSSjsmNhqEvfcningFd23 040000000000000000000000000000002b428bd0aaf431c70206d3b14b9f434e 2018-06-24 00:59:41
10 337291 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 0000347b00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000016a2cd20000 2018-06-24 00:56:04
11 337290 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 0000039300000000000000000000000000000000000000000000021378c80000 2018-06-24 00:56:01
12 337289 t1KVdvhNYFGgCThu8ac6oBLQcG1rVWTZRfY 00001253000000000000000000000000000002796b3b918a6c00007070ca1143 2018-06-24 00:54:50
13 337288 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 0000000000000000000000004a10c4a93d968d61ea91a18c3c062f5a59d10000 2018-06-24 00:54:10
14 337287                          crypto-zcl 02000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000065cef0dde7927 2018-06-24 00:53:52
15 337286                          crypto-zcl 000007c400000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000590ad7927 2018-06-24 00:53:17
16 337285 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 000005810000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000ba68d30000 2018-06-24 00:53:10
17 337284 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 000019ca0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003ef1ad00000 2018-06-24 00:52:42
18 337283                          crypto-zcl 0000006f00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000321007a27 2018-06-24 00:50:38
19 337282                          crypto-zcl 000004280000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002c097927 2018-06-24 00:50:30
20 337281 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000011416530c90000 2018-06-24 00:49:51
21 337280 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 000000000000000000000000a09e81da6cf549d4d58cafdba7b44c2eedd20000 2018-06-24 00:48:43
22 337279 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 0000000000000000000000008d5ef0d8220f376a749a6460a6e3a12fdcc60000 2018-06-24 00:48:20
23 337278 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 0000000000000000000000007d26a27f30bb9bfbe3efb9a292fa1ad3d6cc0000 2018-06-24 00:47:12
24 337277                          crypto-zcl 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001b9effac7927 2018-06-24 00:46:59
25 337276 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 000007fe00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000009794d10000 2018-06-24 00:46:50
26 337275 t1dH7PmLf88MLmBSSjsmNhqEvfcningFd23 00000000000000000000000055a6a3a44441fa6d6a2bc0dfffa888934e867262 2018-06-24 00:46:03
27 337274 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 0000060a00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000025d78c80000 2018-06-24 00:45:58
28 337273                          crypto-zcl 0000000000000000000000001f1953bb6d1a95cd9c6c9390607d9f9642197927 2018-06-24 00:45:52
29 337272 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 0000299000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000009149c20000 2018-06-24 00:45:21
30 337271 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 0000300c0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000bc4cc90000 2018-06-24 00:44:35
31 337270 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 00000d86000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000281f6c90000 2018-06-24 00:44:21
32 337269 t1dH7PmLf88MLmBSSjsmNhqEvfcningFd23 00000000000000000000000099362035069b1b41b7b1f74bf1464eba435a471f 2018-06-24 00:43:53
33 337268 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 00002f550000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001ae44c50000 2018-06-24 00:42:58
34 337267                          crypto-zcl 0000062200000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000c2f427927 2018-06-24 00:42:52
35 337266 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 0800000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000540a3740fd30000 2018-06-24 00:42:21
36 337265 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 000004550000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000fd16d40000 2018-06-24 00:42:11
37 337264 t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD 0000000000000000000000002da38a96d82eb70a9a6edcf95d6e6579fbc90000 2018-06-24 00:41:29

I think can easily spot the difference.

Recently started to see some appearing on blocks that are NiceHash source, e.g. ZCL block 337293, mined by t1SRHDYCdWwvaf9FvW66ZTijUmUBJkPnmtD, whom is a very clever NiceHash purchasing bot (despite what I suspected previously, was wrong, figured meanwhile).

@NagyGa1
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NagyGa1 commented Jun 23, 2018

Marked the current ZEC miners by the above filter.
image
Note how the previous 40% large entity that @aleqx posted (t1XE1kWtsZAemy123KCcv2z3Fonbksnupka) was broken into several smaller entities, to give the impression that decentralisation is going on here, but it is still around 40% of the network, which is likely a chosen limit anyway.
The situation is worse than this, because part of F2Pool now comes from Z9s, and they slowly appear at other places as well. Could run a query for the exact blocks taking the nonces from the chain, but does not worth the effort currently.

Also, the ZEC and ZEN difficulties did not go up that much as the hashes these entities added, because NiceHash buying subsided, being not economical most times.

@aleqx
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aleqx commented Jun 23, 2018

Note how the previous 40% large entity that @aleqx posted (t1XE1kWtsZAemy123KCcv2z3Fonbksnupka) was broken into several smaller entities, to give the impression that decentralisation is going on here

That address disappeared (and was split) almost immediately after these reports (our posts, etc) started appearing around the web ... i don't think they wanted to emulate decentralization at all, they just realized they got caught (if they wanted to emulate decentralization they would have done so from the get go).

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