Bitcoin Cash Network Triggers Lower Mining Difficulty to Keep the Chain Ahead

There is no boring day in the world of Bitcoin Cash. Even though this altcoin has not been around for long, it has already made a significant impact in the cryptocurrency sphere. It appears all the new hashing power landing on the network has subsequently pulled back out. Interestingly enough, someone successfully triggered a mining difficulty adjustment yet again to make finding blocks a lot easier. The “gaming” of the BCH mining difficulty continues unabated.

More EDA Tricks to Keep Bitcoin Cash Ahead?

There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes at Bitcoin Cash which leave most people baffled. One of the main issues is the EDA, or Elastic Difficulty Adjustment algorithm used to determine the network mining difficulty at any given time. The algorithm has recently been all over the place, indicating at least one entity has successfully triggered it on demand. We have documented what the possible reasons for this could be here and here. There is clearly some manipulation going on to inflate mining income.

It seems the network hashrate is going through a rollercoaster ride of its own. A few days ago, virtually all major mining pools flocked to Bitcoin Cash in an effort to “help the network.” However, keeping the EDA shenanigans in mind, it seems this was more of an attempt to mine some coins pretty quickly and bail out when the network difficulty increased to a higher rate. That change did occur three days ago when the mining difficulty for BCH went from 7% to 30% of that of the original network.

This increased difficulty made it extremely unprofitable to mine BCH, which also explains why the network hashrate dropped from 3.2 exahash to below 400 petahash. These numbers will keep fluctuating up and down, depending on how often someone successfully triggers the EDA to make mining easier. Right now the trigger is active again, as the mining difficulty sits at 10% of the Bitcoin chain’s. Blocks are being found on the network just minutes apart, which keeps the chain going for the time being. Additionally, it also makes mining BCH slightly more profitable than BTC, although the margin is almost negligible.

However, with the hashrate dropping when things become too difficult and unprofitable to mine, the bigger question is who is triggering this EDA bug. It is certainly possible the BCH developers are behind these changes, although that would not necessarily improve things for them in the long run. Now that all mining pools are back due to just a sliver of profitability, the plot only thickens. So far, the only pools mining BCH through thick and thin have been ViaBTC and an unknown mining entity.

There is a lot more going on behind the scenes of Bitcoin Cash than many people are willing to admit. Everything related to its mining ecosystem raises more questions than answers, and no one is officially responding to these claims either. People are left in the dark while speculation runs wild. This either indicates the development team is pulling strings or they have bitten off more than they can chew. A solution and explanation for this gamification of the mining difficulty needs to be provided sooner rather than later. The BCH community deserves to know what is going on behind the scenes.

At the same time, the Bitcoin network hashrate is climbing back up. All pools temporarily switching to BCH have been moving back and forth between the two networks. It makes sense to choose the most profitable currency at any given time. However, it would be in the best interest of these companies to take a stance and stick with it once and for all. They should let the miners swap between chains on their own, or keep mining one solution and nothing else.