Mystery miner ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ appeared on the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network and has amassed ~37% of total network hash in the past several weeks.

The appearance of this unknown miner is concerning to Bitcoin Cash community members particularly because Bitcoin Cash has its first planned hard fork since the BSV split in November coming up on May 15th.

The timing, and the moniker itself have some speculating that Calvin Ayre and Craig Wright are behind the hash power and planning to disrupt the fork.

We’ve examined data from the BCH chain and compared it with circulating theories behind the miner’s identity and intentions.

BCH vs BSV Hash Rate

We first wanted to know where the hash was coming from.

One theory which surfaced on Reddit was that hash from BSV had moved over to BCH.

While there was a decline in hash on BSV in April, it wasn’t enough to account for the increase in overall hash on BCH from the Satoshi pool.

The decline in hash (largely from SV Pool and later CoinGeek) in April was in step with BSV’s price decreases following recent delistings.

For what it’s worth, Calvin Ayre has explicitly denied responsibility for the ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ pool.

BTC.TOP

Looking at Coin.Dance graphs of network hash rate, it appears that BTC.TOP’s total contribution decreased while ‘Satoshi’s’ increased.

This doesn’t necessarily mean BTC.TOP’s miners went to the Satoshi pool, but it’s one possibility.

Varying Bitcoin Cash Clients

Varying version numbers indicated in the block headers of blocks mined by ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ indicate varying clients and suggest that this is a mining pool, not a single entity.

The pool’s hash rate as a percentage has remained relatively constant, which suggests it’s profit-oriented, not malicious.

Bitmain

A rumor has been circulating that this pool is operated by Bitmain, testing new equipment.

The version numbers in some block headers of ‘Satoshi’s’ blocks bear exclusive similarities to version numbers of the BTC.COM pool’s blocks, namely in the fourth through sixth characters: fff.

BTC.COM is owned by Bitmain. Still, the rumor remains just that.

Conclusion

‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ appears to be a standard pool pursuing profit, not a malicious entity.

We hope this analysis puts the issue to rest so the Bitcoin Cash community can continue promoting BCH as an optimal medium of exchange, fulfilling Satoshi’s true vision of peer-to-peer electronic cash.

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