A elementary side of Bitcoin’s attraction lies in its standing as a type of forex proof against censorship and proof against arbitrary laws. The precept is that anybody with the means to cowl community charges ought to be capable of interact in transactions with out requiring permission.
Nevertheless, a brand new report suggests {that a} main Bitcoin mining pool filtered transactions primarily based on sanctions imposed by the US Workplace of International Property Management (OFAC).
Asian-Primarily based Bitcoin Mining Pool First to Comply With US Sanctions
In keeping with 0xB10C – a pseudonymous Bitcoin developer and proprietor of a challenge referred to as “miningpool-observer” – F2Pool turned the primary Bitcoin mining pool to filter transactions primarily based on the OFAC sanctions.
The miningpool-observer software identified six Bitcoin transactions originating from addresses topic to OFAC sanctions that weren’t included in blocks. It’s essential to notice that the 2 transactions absent from the mining pool ViaBTC and Foundry USA pool blocks are thought of false positives and weren’t deliberately filtered.
Quite the opposite, the 4 OFAC-sanctioned transactions that had been absent from F2Pool blocks are more likely to have been deliberately filtered. This raises the query of why F2Pool, originating from Asia, is the primary mining pool to undertake transaction filtering primarily based on US OFAC sanctions.
The Bitcoin community capabilities with out disruption and the actions of a single pool filtering transactions don’t jeopardize its overarching censorship resistance.
Nevertheless, it is very important word that F2Pool, being the third-largest Bitcoin mining pool and accounting for 13.7% of all mined blocks up to now yr, signifies that roughly one in seven BTC blocks may probably be mined beneath a censorship situation if F2Pool actively initiates the filtering of sanctioned transactions.
F2Pool to Disable Transaction Filtering
F2Pool co-founder Chun Wang announced that the Bitcoin mining pool would deactivate the “transaction filtering patch.”
Wang acknowledged within the submit that the filter would keep inactive “till the group reaches a extra complete consensus on this subject.”
This revelation confirms F2Pool’s deliberate censorship of transactions sanctioned by OFAC, prompting issues about the opportunity of a recurrence sooner or later.
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