Chandler Guo, a well known Ethereum Miner, previously threatened to attack Ethereum Classic (ETC) using his mining farm. Now, he is using it to protect ETC from a different 51% attack.

Guo made headlines last week when he threatened to attack Ethereum Classic using a 51% attack. His proclamation coincided with a massive increase in hashing power on the Ethereum Classic network. That increase made a 51% attack infeasible for Guo or virtually anyone else.

Last week, “blckeagls” announced 51Pool’s existence on the Ethereum forum. The pool’s goal is to “raise enough hash rate to perform a 51% consensus takeover on ETC.” 51pool is currently being used to mine ETH on the Ethereum Core blockchain and will continue to do so until it attempts its attack on ETC.

Chandler Guo is the CEO of Bitangle and a well known Ethereum Miner. After news of Ethereum Classic’s continuation of the non-modified blockchain, Guo threatened to attack it with his mining farm.

I am Chandler Guo, a 51% attack on Ethereum Classic (ETC) is coming with my 98G hashrate https://t.co/9VM6vPa8CS — Chandler Guo (@ChandlerGuo) July 24, 2016

After the ETC network grew to a point where Guo could no longer attack it, he announced that he had a change of heart and wouldn’t attack ETC. Guo stated that he didn’t want to hurt innocent Ethereum Classic holders.

It is easy to attack ETC, but it will certainly affect the innocent ETC holders. My principle is don’t be evil pic.twitter.com/nl7YIHxrPW — Chandler Guo (@ChandlerGuo) July 26, 2016

After news of the 51pool.org’s creation spread, Guo announced that he would protect it using the same hashing power he previously used to threatened ETC.

Today i will turn on my 120GH for the ETC chain to protect ETC pic.twitter.com/MkDZb2CNUC — Chandler Guo (@ChandlerGuo) July 31, 2016

We have reached out to Guo but have not heard back at press time.

Who Is 51Pool.org?

The creator of 51pool.org is unknown. The poster who announced its creation on the Ethereum form had only a handful of posts. The site’s ICANN Whois registration is protected by a registration company “Domains by Proxy” based out of Arizona.

Currently, the pool claims an insignificant amount of hashing power: 432 MH/s. The entire Ethereum Classic network boasts a 667 GH/s and rising. To attempt a 51% attack on Ethereum Classic, 51pool.org will need to increase its hashing power by over 77,000%. That figure is assuming the ETC network doesn’t gain any more hashing power in the meantime.

With only five listed miners at press time, it does not seem like 51pool.org is a threat to Ethereum Classic. Instead, the press it generated seems to have galvanized Guo and other traditional ETH supporters into pledging protection for ETC.

[Note: Artwork created using Paint.net and Prisma]