Orphaned Chain Draining Useful Resources of Crypto Miners

A research unit from Bitmex exchange has come up with a worthy discovery in relation to the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) chain. The chain is positioned for changes but that has not stopped the mining of the orphaned chain. The research did not explain which unit is responsible for the mining of the blocks. However, four blocks have now been seen to be linked to the worthless chain. Without any transactions, these blocks are not coming up with any commissions. Also, because an orphaned chain is involved, there is nothing like a block reward.

Bitcoin ‘Collapse’

As the mining of the orphaned chain continues, it means that miners doing nothing but wasting useful resources. This happens for every new block that has been mined. Also, as there is no form of the block reward, it gets even worse. The opportunity cost of not mining on the new rules chain keeps counting. It stands at 12.5 BCH for each block lost.

The initial design of Bitcoin had room for soft and hard forks. Bitcoin Cash in its nature as a hard fork of Bitcoin means the same design applies. Typically, hard forks are created in a way that they initiate rule changes that are important. These rule changes are vital for the overall platform. Soft forks on the hand, have their own distinguishing feature. They have room for transparent and multi-party chain control with most of the miners involved.

Tough Year for the Altcoin

It has not been a totally smooth year for the altcoin even though it started on an impressive note. The second quarter of the year was one of massive consolidation. By the middle of June, it had peaked at about $485. But the third quarter came with bad news. BCH had tumbled and lost more than a third of its value. By the time the dust settled, the value of the coin was under $300.

This slide in the value has not stopped. Fears about the unfortunate losses in the market predominate. At the moment, the price of trading stood at almost $260 – a really worrisome trend.

Repeat, Repeat

Even though the coin has been outlined as the panacea to the issue of scalability, the founder Roger Ver has also been attacked. Ver has faced some really controversial attacks of late. Some see him as a destabilizing effect on the Bitcoin platform. Those who are his critics think he is triggering more problems and overheating the market. They feel Bitcoin will be in a much better place if he has no kind of input at all.

In the middle of this year, the hard fork deployed crippled the chain. Prices plunged after this error was made public. But it had its ripple effects. It resulted in the spread of paranoia in the market. It also led to a remarkable rise in the volatility before the launch of the next hard fork on the 15th of November. Only time will tell whether Ver has done the right thing or if his critics are correct all along.