Charlie Lee Proposes Merged Mining LTC

Charlie Lee, creator of Litecoin, yesterday publicly disclosed communication from him to Jackson Palmer, the co-creator of Dogecoin. In the message, Lee makes the case for merged mining of Litecoin and Dogecoin.


“Its unfortunate the dogecoin kept the same mining algorithm as litecoin,” Lee states, ” as we are now competing for miners.”

Lee goes on, “What do you think? I would love to see a world where litecoin and dogecoin both thrive and work together instead of competing for miners.”

I asked Jackson Palmer via Twitter what he thought about the prospect, he replied, “Still gathering my thoughts on that one – expect a post from me in the coming week(s).”

Lee admits his primary concern is the introduction of Scrypt-ASIC’s that will bring monstrous hash-rates to the networks of Scrypt-coins – networks that were intended to be ASIC resistant. Unfortunately, as the profitability of crypto-mining increases, so does the demand for mining equipment pushing the limits of what is possible.

The danger with the introduction Scrypt-ASICs is that as more and more coins are developed, some of which use Scrypt, the miners that contribute to these networks are spread more and more thin. ASICs bring a surge of hashing power, and concentrate it in the hands of the few people willing to invest in these machines.

If 51% of any network’s total hashing power is controlled by a single entity, that entity will have the ability to fork the blockchain at will, or double spend coins. Even if the group or person has no intention to do so, all confidence in that network will be compromised.

With fewer miners holding more power, the possibility of a 51% attack is greater every day.

Why would any group try to accomplish a 51% attack? Their own efforts would result in the devaluation of their payout, right? As more money pours into digital currency and hashing power gets cheaper by the day, there is a concern that groups supporting one digital currency may organize in order to attack “competing” alt-coins.

“Security” At A Price

If Litecoin and Dogecoin merged miners, it would add the hashing power of each network together, making them less susceptible to attacks, no doubt about it; but in order to accomplish this, Dogecoin would have to fork, again.

Actually, either coin could fork to accomplish it, but Charlie Lee already publicly discussed his aversion to forking Litecoin earlier this month, stating that it can be “confusing and undermine confidence in the coin for users.” Because Litecoin has been active so long, it would be difficult to alert so many inattentive holders that they must upgrade or risk losing their Litecoin.

Lee suggests that Dogecoin hard-forks in part because it is newer (so it’s community is easier to alert to changes), and it has had successful forks in the past.

Nonetheless, hard-forking any coin can be dangerous and must be approached cautiously.

For example, when Zeitcoin forked and CryptoRush neglected to upgrade their wallet, it resulted in the theft of the exchange’s ZTC holdings.

Litecoin Will Not Hard Fork to Fend Off ASIC’s!

Charlie Lee decided to not fork Litecoin, earlier this month.

How Will This Effect The Community/Price/Brand?

It wouldn’t.

Miners would have the option to be rewarded with DOGE and LTC simultaneously, leaving each coin separate. This is literally the only change to the crypto-ecosystem if the proposal is accepted.

It is in no way a “merger,” or any other term that presumes the two coins are forever intertwined.

Also, the hashing power of each network would be added together, making attacks much harder to execute.

The blockchains would remain separate, as would the brands and communities. One concern is that extra data may be injected into the blockchain, causing more bloating which is already a concern for some.

How would exchange rates be affected? That is for anyone to guess, but assuming it goes smoothly, confidence could be boosted in each coin, resulting in price increases. Alternatively, the miners of each coin may just immediately sell the coin they have no interest in, resulting in downward pressure on both.

source: http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/news/charlie-lee-proposes-merged-mining-ltcdoge/2014/04/08

Charlie Lee Proposes Merged Mining LTC