Page 1 of 1

A quick note about SegWit activation

Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 3:27 pm
by Steve Sokolowski
There has been some gnashing of teeth in the Litecoin community recently because a large pool decided against SegWit. Supporters should not despair.

I don't have much time to go into this now because it takes away time from actually implementing SegWit, but if it becomes necessary after we have things tested and released towards the end of the month, we can redirect hashrate from other coins to Litecoin and activate SegWit. Even with current hashrate, we can become 6% of LTC for the April 27 - May 11 activation period.

This plan would need to be discussed by everyone, and customers would expect to be compensated for the reduced profitability caused by pulling hashrate from other coins, like Gamecredits. It would not be cheap - about $50,000 - and someone would have to pay. But if it becomes decisive, it can be done.

Feel free to discuss this option below. Hopefully other pools will make their stances clear in the next three weeks and this discussion won't matter.

Re: A quick note about SegWit activation

Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 6:07 pm
by kwb1820
Do you feel as if other mining pools are pretty much on board at this point?

When do you feel it is likely Prohashing will pull the "switch" in order to pass the 75% threshold? Could there possibly be an effort by other pools to divert resources to combating the Segwit activation?

Thanks

Re: A quick note about SegWit activation

Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 6:23 pm
by Steve Sokolowski
kwb1820 wrote:Do you feel as if other mining pools are pretty much on board at this point?

When do you feel it is likely Prohashing will pull the "switch" in order to pass the 75% threshold? Could there possibly be an effort by other pools to divert resources to combating the Segwit activation?

Thanks
There's no reason to do anything until April 27, because that's when the next reasonable activation period starts.

This idea would be dependent on a lot of variables. First, it assumes that nobody else decides to pull the plug on SegWit before then. Second, and most importantly, someone needs to reimburse the miners for the money they would be losing. Third, even if the money were spent, people could decide to leave the pool and waste it all. We can compute the probability of success based upon the gap we need to make up. At 69%, it's 50/50; at 71%, it's probably almost guaranteed. It is a big deal if even 1% more can be obtained before April 27.

A lot would have to be talked about before this was done. The first step is to wait a week and see what happens with other pools.