Qubic, a mining pool and altcoin, has released a preliminary report on its 51% attack experiment on the Monero (XMR) network. During the experiment, Qubic reached 52% of the total hash rate of the Monero network.
Experiment Overview
The Qubic experiment allowed it to control 52% of the Monero network's hash rate, enabling the reorganization of 6 blocks and making 60 blocks 'orphans' (isolated).
Results and Impacts
During the experiment, Qubic was able to mine approximately 80% of the blocks on the Monero network in just two hours, yielding 750 XMR and 7 million XTM. Taking into account unsold Tari from the previous period, the total of newly mined XTM reached 17.2 billion QUBIC, resulting in around $55,000 worth of assets being burned. Miners received a total reward of 62.2 billion QUBIC, with a market value of about $200,000. The Monero network peaked at 2.71 gigahashes per second.
Future Steps and Analysis
Qubic indicates that its mining is currently approximately four times more profitable than traditional Monero mining. The 51% attack experiment is still ongoing, with independent experts continuing to examine its impact on the Monero network.
The Qubic experiment on the Monero network raises awareness of security and resilience issues in cryptocurrency networks, which could serve as a foundation for further research in this area.
