Obelisk threatens a soft fork in reaction to the launch of Bitmain's Antminer A3

 Bitmain, the Chinese mining giant grabbed the mining community off guard Wednesday with the surprise of the launch of a new cryptocurrency miner.The infamous Chinese company has had a rugged past among the cryptocurrency community, being involved in the large-scale debate in 2017 where Bitmain was seen leaning towards the support of Bitcoin Cash .Now it seems that Bitmain is looking to squeeze life into another virtual currency ... the Siacoin.The new Antminer model will be able to mine cryptocurrencies using the Blake hashing algorithm (2b); that currently drives Siacoin .The model is for sale in intermittent lots close to $ 2 375, in an attempt to stop sellers placing important orders of the unit. This has been a particular problem in recent months, when buyers flocked to put their hands on the Bitcoin S9 miners of Bitmain, as well as their Dash D3 and Litecoin L3 + miners. 

— BITMAIN (@BITMAINtech) January 17, 2018

We are proud and happy to announce that we are launching the Antminer A3, a new Antminer model to mine cryptocurrencies using the hashing algorithm Blake(2b).
The actual price and option to buy will be available here https://t.co/mrymOaMy4i after 2:30PM (17 Jan, GMT+8). pic.twitter.com/Ye0cxNn95M

 

We are proud and happy to announce that we are launching the Antminer A3, a new Antminer model to mine cryptocurrencies using the Blake hashing algorithm (2b). The current price and purchase option will be available in the link

Obelisk threatens with soft bifurcation

The announcement of the launch of the Antminer A3 appeared out of nowhere and has already caused a stir in the mining community due to its focus on the hashing algorithm Blake (2b).As it stands, the Blockchain cloud storage service, Sia uses Siacoin as its cryptocurrency , which is extracted using the Blake algorithm (2b).Nebulous Labs, the studio behind Sia, launched its own miners for the ASIC cryptocurrency , Obelisk that has been in pre-sale since 2017. Two miners are available, the cryptocurrency decred the DC1, and the Siacoin, the SC1. The first batch has already been used up and is expected to be dispatched in June of this year.Bitmain's surprise ad is effectively introduced to the market before Obelisk has sent its new SC1 miners. The Chinese mining company has promised delivery within 10 days after the full payment has been made.This has not gone unnoticed, and the founder of Obelisk, David Vorick, issued a serious warning to Bitmain in the Obelisk forum on Reddit , hinting at a soft bifurcation that would disable Bitmain3 units in order to mine the currency.

"Bitmain has a long history of being abusive towards coin communities, towards their clients and towards coin developers. We prepare for something like this by adding an additional feature to the SC1. We can make a soft bifurcation that slightly changes the PoW algorithm that would invalidate the Bitmain ASIC, but allow them to continue working on the SC1 units. In the case of an attack from Bitmain, we can activate this soft fork. "

The founder of Obelisk, and the main developer of Sia, known by his taek nickname, made it clear that such a move would be the last resort to protect users who have requested Obelisk miners.

"At this moment, I do not think it's necessary, but if they start mining empty blocks or are otherwise problematic for the network, we have resources that do not involve destroying the utility of the SC1 units. Of course, this bifurcation would require the adoption of the community, it is not something that the developers could decide to activate on their own. It would be a UASF (Soft Bifurcation Activated by the User, because the majority of the hash rate would not support the soft bifurcation. "

 In a coup de grace, Vorick said that a final decision on the correct course of action rests with the mining community.

 "In general, I do not think we have much to worry about. Fortunately (and most likely), this gentle bifurcation will never be necessary. But I wanted to remind everyone (including Bitmain) that, at the end of the day, it is the community that is in control, not the miners. If ASIC manufacturers act in a way that is harmful to the network, we have resources. "

According to the Obelisk website, 3 598 SCI units were sold in the first batch of orders by prior order. 1 585 SCI units have been sold to date in the second pre-sale lot.

Facing the big shots

The Bitmain mining consortiums, Antpool and BTC.com, account for more than 29 percent of global hashing energy production, which some experts believe challenges the decentralized nature of Bitcoin. In addition, it is estimated that 70 percent of Bitcoin miners in the world use Antpool hardware.The business is ruthless, and the secret launch of Bitmain's Antminer A3s shows that they are looking to be smarter than their competitors at every moment.Bitmain has not broken any rules, but it's good to see that Obelisk is willing to defend itself and make superior moves on its own. But once again, it is likely that the mining community will have the last word.