Questions tagged [merged-mining]

Merged mining is a technique where the same proof of work can be used to secure more than one block in different hash chains. This allows a miner to mine more than one currency at a time and contribute his hashing power to all of them.

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How does merged mining work?

How does the implementation of merged mining affect the global hash rate of alt chains? Does one solution fit all? Does one solution fit some? Does the rate of "solutions that will fit" decrease the more forks that it is tested against? An…
MaxSan
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Will merged mining mine each chain as efficiently as non-merged mining?

Let's say I get a hash rate of X when mining either Bitcoin or Namecoin. When using Merged Mining, will I be able to still do X concurrently on both blockchains, or will I do significantly less than X? In other words, if I merge-mine other coins,…
ripper234
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How is a side-chain merging back to Bitcoin chain protected against double-spend? Where are the side-chain mining fees?

I am struggling to understand the concept of "side-chains" that's discussed a lot lately, but never trully explained. How I understand "side-chain": it's an altcoin, with a separate blockchain, with a separate PoW rules and mineres and mining…
Karel Bílek
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Why do namecoins have any value?

Many Bitcoin mining pools offer merged mining with Namecoin, and there are places where one can buy and sell BTC for NMC and the other way around. But, why would anyone want to own NMC? As far as I understand, browsing dot-bit domains doesn't…
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Detecting dishonest merged-mining pool

How would one go about detecting whether a mining pool is being dishonest by performing merged-mining without sharing the Namecoin income with its miners? We assume that: The pool is operating normally, albeit pays out only Bitcoin rewards It…
ThePiachu
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When did merged Namecoin-Bitcoin mining start?

(This question was originally asked before merged mining began) When exactly did merged mining of Bitcoin and Namecoin chains start?
ripper234
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Specific namecoin address in merged mining

I want to do merged mining with P2Pool, and I want any generated namecoins to go to a specific namecoin address in my wallet. I haven't seen a way to configure this in P2Pool or namecoind, and Google's turned up no hits. It seems as though it's…
Daniel H
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Does encoding Namecoin/messages into the blockchain bloat it?

I read today twice concerns about inflating the blockchain: NameCoin Bitcoin Message Service So, does using these services "over inflate" the blockchain? The way I see it, if another protocl rides on top of Bitcoin but obeys by its rules and pay…
ripper234
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Can ASICS Merge-Mine?

Can ASICS in general, and specifically any of the models coming out soon merge-mine other cryptocurrencies?
Kinnard Hockenhull
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How does merged mining work on a technical level?

In bitcoin, miners hash the header twice with the SHA256 function. This header consists of the fields listed below, as described by this question. version previousHashBlock merkleRoot time difficulty nonce This header data only applies to one…
abeikverdi
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Which Namecoin block was the first one to be generated by merged mining?

For a definitive record is it possible to determine if a namecoin block was generated via merged mining? Is so which was the first one. Which is the first bitcoin block to have namecoin information in coinbase transaction?
DeathAndTaxes
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Does merged mining require clients to download both blockchains?

Suppose I want to start an AltCoin, and set it up for merged mining with Bitcoin. Will it require the AltCoin end-users to also download the Bitcoin blockchain to verify the hashes embedded in the blocks, or do only the miners need a copy of both…
Maestro
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Are sidechains really new?

People have been talking a lot about side chains, but I thought this has been around for a while under a different name. Coins like Namecoin, Devcoin, ixcoin, i0coin, groupcoin, etc are all merge mined and have existed long before I ever heard the…
Mark
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Merged Mining Disadvantages

What are the disadvantages of merged mining? I'm very interested in p2pool and since I have to "run my own server" I've been considering enabling merged mining. Besides the obvious administration overhead and learning (which I chalk up to being a…
David Kassa
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Will merge mining patch make Bitcoin network mining power available to anyone?

I think Namecoin has a good value, but while I think Vladimir overestimates the inflation effect of merged mining, I still mostly agree with his post, which is negative towards uncontrolled merged mining. It requires small patch for bitcoind to make…
Serith
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