ViaBTC Mines First Bitcoin Unlimited 2MB Block, Allocates Full Hashpower

ViaBTC has mined its first official Bitcoin Unlimited block after confirming it allocated its entire hashing power to mining on the platform.

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ViaBTC’s First Bitcoin Unlimited Block

ViaBTC is the fifth-largest mining pool in the world by hashrate distribution. It announced it had officially mined its first Bitcoin Unlimited block on October 10, with a coinbase size vote of 2 MB.

Almost immediately after ViaBTC’s appearance at Roger Ver’s “Free Speech Party” in Milan, Italy, the pool also announced it is now allocating 100 percent of its hashing power to mining Bitcoin Unlimited blocks.

The team confirmed it is now running Bitcoin Unlimited on the Bitcoin mainnet network, which secures and settles original bitcoin transactions. According to blockchain explorer Blocktrail, ViaBTC officially mined bitcoin block 433747, reflecting the 2 MB vote.

ViaBTC’s decision to bring its entire hashing power and mining network onto Bitcoin Unlimited stems from their historic support for bigger blocks. In early September, the team said while its pool was running Bitcoin Core, it was also interested in upgrading to bigger blocks to accommodate more users.

We are No. 5 Bitcoin mining pool, running bitcoin core currently, interested in big block @btc_unlimited @BitcoinClassic @bitcoincoreorg — ViaBTC (@ViaBTC) August 31, 2016

Bitcoin.com & ViaBTC on Bitcoin Unlimited

Recently, the Bitcoin.com pool secured its share of the Bitcoin hashrate distribution at 1.5 percent. The pool also runs Bitcoin Unlimited for better scalability and flexibility.

At the moment, the Bitcoin.com mining pool allows up to 16 MB blocks. This is to accommodate a rising user base and Bitcoin network transactions.

The Bitcoin.com pool has already mined its 12th block. In the upcoming weeks, it also plans to open to the public.

As of now, ViaBTC and Bitcoin.com are the main and leading mining pools supporting Bitcoin Unlimited. Due to ViaBTC’s sheer hashing power, more than 4.9 percent of global hashing power is now mining Bitcoin Unlimited blocks.

The support from both ViaBTC and Bitcoin.com also led to a significant increase in Bitcoin Unlimited’s node count, which recently surpassed the 240 margin. Network watchers expect it to reach 300 by mid-October.

Bitcoin.com will continue to follow activity surrounding Bitcoin Unlimited. We will provide more updates as they become available.

What do you think about Bitcoin Unlimited? Let us know in the comments below.

Images via Shutterstock, ViaBTC.

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