Clicking on About shows that bitfly gmbh operates https://explorer.zcha.in who also owns Flypool. If you look at the last 20 blocks, they are at 65% network hashrate. Well over 51%.
I think it’s time to address this. Can we coordinate a mass-exodus from Flypool so that people do not take losses during the switch? E.g., a switch day where everyone knows in advance.
If we can diminish Flypool’s hashrate significantly then it will no longer be the most profitable pool and will no longer have control of Zcash. They have overstayed their welcome past 51%.
Either way, this chart is a problem. I’ve realized during this ASIC debate that right now just 3-4 pools control everything, and Flypool is the evil overlord that is gradually sucking the life out of everything.
Introducing ASICs would allow a small number of people (a few hundred even) the opportunity to mine solo or other pools and shift us away from Flypool’s centralization.
Like many of you, I have hundreds of thousands of dollars invested into GPU mining systems, but I also think that Zcash won’t reach it’s full potential both in adoption and exchange rate value if it’s controlled like this by one big pool.
I will risk a few days mining on a different pool if several other large current flypool miners will get on board with a switch.
So taking a step back with some general questions… Why do people choose Flypool? Lower fees? User experience? Better customer service? Better marketing? Faster payouts? Concern that smaller pools are not trustworthy and more likely to run off with the funds?
for me, user experience, and flypool is the first pool since i start mining and i don’t have single issue until now, so i’m thinking why should i move when i got no problem? . but since this 51% issue is raising i’ll consider to move even tho my rig is small
Rather than plan for a coordinated switch-day I’m switching all of my miners to another pool now. I also immediately noticed more accurate hashrate reporting. We will see what the final profits are, but I’m hopeful they will be the same or higher.
I don’t want to endorse any pool over any other except to say that you should switch away from Flypool. Generally, look for another main pool with low latency.
Latency, yes, but that can’t be attributed to ONLY Flypool. Lots of other smaller pools have better (smaller) latency. Anything under 100milliseconds is good. You can see latency as a readout on most if not all mining software
When I ping nanopool I get a max of 40ms return, avg of 20. However if I pull up a readout of submitted, then lately it’s been 130ms or so. I will have to check when I get home.
