Known as “0xB10C,” a researcher revealed that several mining pools may be censoring transactions on the Bitcoin network. The research was conducted between September and October this year.
The pools mentioned in the study were the ViaBTC, Foundry and the F2Pool, three of the five largest on the network. While two of them returned false positives, the researcher reveals that one of them actually randomly leaves transactions outside of its blocks.
In terms of transactions, they are said to have links to addresses on the censor list of the US Office of Foreign Assets Control, better known as OFAC. For example, in September OFAC placed more than 1,000 Bitcoin addresses on its block list.
The sanctioned parties are the most varied, including Bitcoin mixers, terrorists, and even Russians linked to the invasion of Ukraine.
Pools would censor Bitcoin transactions
The first transaction analyzed by 0xB10C was recorded on September 21. According to the researcher, the ViaBTCone of the top 5 pools, did not contain a transaction associated with an OFAC-approved address.
“This transaction consolidates 100 inputs into one output. One of these inputs spends an output paid at 1ECeZ…D3W5K. This address was added to OFAC’s SDN list on September 21, 2021.”
However, the researcher reveals that another 24 major transactions were left out of this block mined by ViaBTC. Finally, note that the ViaBTC did not censor this transaction and merely exchanged it for another one. Three days later, ViaBTC mined a transaction from the same sanctioned address.
Another pool that did not contain a transaction from an OFAC-censored address did FoundryUSA, considered the largest Bitcoin pool. The situation is said to have occurred on October 21.
“She paid a rate of 5.09 sat/vByte and is not dependent on it [outras] transactions in the mempool”the researcher emphasizes. “This rate was enough to post [a transação] at position 161 out of 2,215 transactions in the model built by my node on Bitcoin Core.”
However, the researcher reveals that the transaction took place in the last seconds before the block was mined, which may have led to its deletion. Therefore, he concluded that it was only a false positive result and that the Foundry also does not censor transactions.
Finally, the last pool analyzed was the F2Pool, the third largest in the world. Unlike ViaBTC and Foundry, the researcher reveals that F2Pool would filter transactions.
A total of four blocks were analyzed between October 5 and October 22, each excluding a transaction from an address on the OFAC list.
“This sanctioned transaction is probably missing because F2Pool filtered it”0xB10C responded about a transaction. “Like the missing transaction from block 811791, the missing transaction from block 813357 was likely filtered by F2Pool.”
“These four missing sanctioned transactions lead to the conclusion that F2Pool is currently filtering transactions.”
The full study, with more details, can be found on the researcher’s blog, where there is also a statement about the pool losing R$760,000 worth of bitcoins when they tried to deceive the network.
Why transactions should not be censored
While no one wants terrorists to use the Bitcoin network, it is important to remember that one of the key differences between Bitcoin and any other financial model is its anti-censorship. For example, some believe that the US is using the dollar as a weapon against its enemies.
In other words, no government has any control over the Bitcoin network and therefore its users. An example of this practice occurred in Canada, when the local government froze the accounts of truck drivers protesting vaccination mandates. In response, they started accepting Bitcoin donations.
Finally, although some pools sanction transactions, it is worth remembering that these will be recorded by other pools later. In other words, even if the wait time is longer, as long as there are miners accepting these transactions, they will pass through the network.
Source: Live Coins
Barry Siefert is an accomplished journalist and author at The Nation View. He is known for his expertise in the field of cryptocurrency, and has written extensively on the topic. With a background in finance and economics, Barry has a deep understanding of the underlying technology and market forces that drive the crypto industry.
