- Qubic, a crypto project led by IOTA co‑founder Sergey Ivancheglo (aka “Come‑from‑Beyond”), has launched an incentive campaign to gain majority mining control of the Monero blockchain.
- The ultimate aim? To control over 50% of Monero’s mining hash rate, which would allow Qubic to reject other miners’ blocks, delay transactions, and influence network behavior—often called a 51% attack.
How does Qubic’s strategy work?
- Pay‑to‑mine model: Qubic offers significantly higher payouts to miners than regular Monero pools.
- Token loop: It converts mined Monero (XMR) into Tether (USDT), then buys and burns QUBIC tokens to strengthen its native token economy.
- Network dominance: Between May and July 2025, Qubic’s share of Monero’s total hash rate reached as high as 40%, later stabilizing around 27% by late July.
Why the urgency?
- Ivancheglo has signaled his intent to push for a full 51% takeover sometime in August 2025 (week of August 2 to August 31).
- After August 2, Qubic may stop reporting its mining power, making it harder to monitor their real share of hash rate.
Why this matters—risks for Monero users
- Controlling over half the network allows block rejections, orphaned blocks, transaction delays, and even censorship of certain transactions.
- Unstoppable Wallet analyst Dan Dadybayo warned that gaining 51% control could cost just a few thousand dollars per day—dangerously low for a privacy-focused network like Monero.
How is the Monero community fighting back?
- The community rallied behind supportxmr.com — a mining pool that now accounts for nearly 28.7% of the network hash across ~4,970 miners, having mined 36 of the last 100 blocks.
- Reddit threads and crypto forums tracked Qubic’s rise and called for miner migration to counterbalance its power.
- Some users have voiced frustration over perceived developer silence and are urging protocol upgrades or better decentralization safeguards.
Qubic says it’s not harmful—just a “demo”
- Qubic frames the operation as a benevolent economic demonstration designed to stress-test Monero’s resilience to majority hashing attacks.
- Ivancheglo argues the exercise is valuable research and claims that no transaction reversals are intended—he wants miners to voluntarily join Qubic’s pool.
- However, many in the community remain skeptical, viewing this as an attempt to normalize centralization under the guise of a “tech demo.”
What beginners should take away
- Hash rate control matters: A pool controlling >50% of Monero’s hash rate could disrupt the network.
- Economic incentives can pose a threat: Rather than hacking code, entities can out‑bid others to centralize power.
- Decentralization is key: The Monero community is actively resisting by shifting to alternative pools.
