- A Reddit user, u/Fluent has revealed that NiceHash controls over 51 percent of Dash’s total hashrate
- u/Fluent says it’s possible for a bad actor to launch a 51 percent attack on Dash (DASH)
A Reddit user with user with username u/Flenst has revealed that only one entity, NiceHash controls more than 51 percent of the total hashrate on the Dash network, and there is a considerable possibility of a double spend attack also known as a 51% attack on Dash (DASH) if care is not taken, according to a Reddit post on January 9, 2019.
Another 51% Attack in the Pipeline?
According to Reddit user u/Fluent, while he was researching the recent 51% attack on Ethereum Classic (ETC), he discovered that Dash (DASH), the 15th largest cryptocurrency in the world, could also suffer the same fate shortly if proper measures are not put in place.
As at when Fluent published the post, NiceHash, a cryptocurrency mining marketplace that allows users to sell or buy computing power (hashing power) for mining a vast array of cryptoassets including bitcoin and ether, held more than 70 percent of the total Dash hashrate ( 1390TH/s against 1790TH/s total).
“This is the first problem, and it is uncommon,” said Fluent, adding “Usually, nicehash holds around 10 – 20% of PoW coins nethash and it is only dangerous for smaller forks of the PoW coin.”
Fluent further explained that if this massive hashrate is directed to numerous established and credible mining pools, there wouldn’t be a need for panic, however, on prying further he found out that only about 560TH/s of the total 1790TH/s was being handled by known pools.
All Mining Rewards Going to One Entity
According to the researcher, on digging deeper into his findings, he managed to find out the four addresses that are collecting the entire mining rewards but was only able to connect 3 of them via the block explorer: https://dashradar.com/explorer/tx/31de30b48c9263544724c0e607a9cb1f7bf05dc2961119827c52571334506172
Fluent noted that the above transaction had “three of the four top addresses as inputs meaning one user controls all three. These three alone gather 53% and more,” he declared.
He concludes by saying that ASICs and the NiceHash platform are cancerous for all coins smaller than bitcoin, as they can be used to carry out a 51 percent attack.
“NiceHash is cancer. A bad actor could easily rent enough hash power for DASH to execute a 51% attack right away.”
As reported by Blockchain Reporter on January 8, 2019, Ethereum Classic (ETC) suffered a severe 51% attack that triggered the reorganization of over 100 blocks on the network.
