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From: Oliver Petruzel <opetruzel@gmail•com>
To: Bitcoin Protocol Discussion <bitcoin-dev@lists•linuxfoundation.org>
Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] BIP proposal: Inhibiting a covert attack on the Bitcoin POW function
Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2017 00:47:10 -0400	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <CALhpmH2MdhYgwTB+zZBO7iWQbBLb63E7Yrkj2-NV6KZ35TYP=Q@mail.gmail.com> (raw)

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> > One of the things going for us here is that Bitmain has been keeping
ASICBOOST
> > from their own customers - as far as we know they haven't been sharing
it, and
> > thus they're the only ones you can actually use it.
> >
> > So while we're pissing off Bitmain in disabling it, we wouldn't be
affecting
> > anyone else.
> >
> > Equally, mining is a zero-sum game: if no-one can use ASICBOOST, miners
are in
> > the same position as before. ASICBOOST is only relevant to miners like
Bitmain
> > who have access to it while other miners don't.

Peter -
Do we know that for a fact, though? What evidence or intelligence do we
have to indicate Bitmain itself is the only entity using the covert boost?

A few possibilities:
1. They could have already shared it with a limited number of strategic
partners;
2. They could have offered to share it with various parties in exchange for
something (money, support for BU, etc); or
3. They could provide the custom firmware/software to select parties as a
direct response to this disclosure -- which would enhance their defenses
against a soft fork.
4. They could share the firmware/software with EVERY owner of their
equipment in a last-ditch defense against a soft fork. (after all, some
advantage over other equipment manufacturers is still better than no
advantage, right?)

Assumptions could lead to failure, so these are just some things to keep in
mind.

Respectfully,
Oliver

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             reply	other threads:[~2017-04-06  4:47 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 49+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2017-04-06  4:47 Oliver Petruzel [this message]
  -- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2017-04-07  1:34 Daniele Pinna
2017-04-07  6:46 ` Emilian Ursu
2017-04-07  7:44 ` Alex Mizrahi
2017-04-07  8:08 ` praxeology_guy
2017-04-06  4:49 Raystonn .
2017-04-06  7:47 ` praxeology_guy
2017-04-06 12:13   ` David Vorick
2017-04-05 21:37 Gregory Maxwell
2017-04-05 23:05 ` theymos
2017-04-06  0:17   ` Gregory Maxwell
2017-04-06  0:39     ` Joseph Poon
2017-04-06  0:40       ` Joseph Poon
2017-04-06  1:32       ` Gregory Maxwell
2017-04-06  2:09         ` Joseph Poon
2017-04-05 23:25 ` Anthony Towns
2017-04-05 23:42 ` Joseph Poon
2017-04-06  2:10 ` Jonathan Toomim
2017-04-06 20:21   ` Jared Lee Richardson
2017-04-06  2:31 ` Peter Todd
2017-04-06  2:39   ` Bram Cohen
2017-04-06  2:49     ` Peter Todd
2017-04-06  3:11       ` Erik Aronesty
2017-04-06  3:23         ` Peter Todd
2017-04-06  3:23       ` David Vorick
2017-04-06  3:42         ` Peter Todd
2017-04-06  5:46         ` Thomas Daede
2017-04-06  6:24         ` Jonathan Toomim
2017-04-06 12:04           ` David Vorick
     [not found]           ` <CAMZUoK=oDAD9nhFAHkgncWtYxjBNh3qXbUffOH57QMnqjhmN6g@mail.gmail.com>
     [not found]             ` <CAMZUoKn8tr3LGbks0TnaCx9NTP6MZUzQ8PE6jDq1xiqpYyYwow@mail.gmail.com>
2017-04-06 13:55               ` Russell O'Connor
2017-04-06 16:49           ` Marco
2017-04-06 17:04           ` Alex Mizrahi
2017-04-06 17:13           ` Alex Mizrahi
2017-04-07 12:59             ` Jannes Faber
2017-04-07 13:28               ` Erik Aronesty
2017-04-06 17:31           ` Jared Lee Richardson
2017-04-06 17:26         ` Jared Lee Richardson
2017-04-06 15:36       ` Alex Mizrahi
2017-04-06 17:51     ` Jorge Timón
2017-04-06  7:24 ` bfd
2017-04-06  9:17 ` Luke Dashjr
2017-04-06 12:02 ` Luv Khemani
2017-04-06 12:11   ` Bryan Bishop
2017-04-06 17:43     ` Timo Hanke
2017-04-06 12:30   ` Luv Khemani
2017-04-06 15:15     ` Jorge Timón
2017-04-06 15:41       ` Daniel Robinson
2017-04-06 16:13 ` Andreas Schildbach
2017-04-06 21:38 ` Gregory Maxwell

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