Week4 Note
Mining Bitcoin with pencil and paper: 0.67 hashes per day
http://www.righto.com/2014/09/mining-bitcoin-with-pencil-and-paper.html
This article introduces the process how mining works in Bitcoin, which requires miners to find a hash smaller than a specific value. The author also shows the process calculating SHA-256, one of the hash functions, using pen and paper.
ViaBTC Rises: How A mysterious Miner Could Decide Bitcoin’s Future
https://www.coindesk.com/viabtc-mystery-miner-bitcoin-scaling-future
This article introduces a bitcoin mining pool in China called ViaBTC became to support Bitcoin Unlimited instead of Bitcoin Core. There are two ways that are possible to scale the bitcoin block size: Segregated Witness and Bitcoin Unlimited. Segregated Witness is a planned technical fix that would make bitcoin’s block size about 1.8 times larger than original size, while Bitcoin Unlimited allows miners and individual node operator to choose a block size that they prefer instead of limited block size. Either side has its supporters and have continued arguing.
The Antbleed Backdoor
https://www.coindesk.com/antbleed-bitcoins-newest-new-controversy-explained
This article introduces a mining chip vulnerability, which some are calling a “backdoor”, that could potentially be used to remotely shut off bitcoin mining machines. The public fears that someone could exploit the vulnerability to switch off bitcoin mining equipment in bulk and involving mining chip manufacturer Bitmain has been controversial.
Ethereum Whitepaper
https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/%5B中文%5D-以太坊白皮书
This article first introduces the history of bitcoin and its general principle. Then it states the advantages of implementing some specific functions on ethereum beyond those on bitcoin such as script. It also enumerates other applications of ethereum in practice.
Time stamped chatlogs: Why Jihan and Jiang want to block segwit at all cost
This article shows chatlogs between Chinese miners and a Litecoin developer discussing activating Segwit on Litecoin. Jihan, one of the Chinese miners, supported to activate the Segwit with a hard fork, while Xinxi, a LTC developer, argued that it should be activated with soft ford instead.