Decentralising Bitcoin Mining with Whit Gibbs - WBD426

Location: London
Date: Friday 19th November
Project: Compass Mining
Role: Founder & CEO


Proof of Work is the bedrock of Bitcoin. It provides the network
security but is not immune to attack. One attack vector is a
collusion of miners who gain a significant amount of the hashrate
could theoretically block transactions and reorganise the
blockchain. This is known as a 51% attack.


While this is known as a 51% attack, it would likely require
significantly more than 51% of hashpower to pull off this attack.
However, in 2014 GHash.io were able to attain 55% of the
hashrate, but fortunately, they were willing to assist the
community in overcoming this potential weakness. 


For a number of years, China housed a large amount of the
hashpower, but their seemingly reckless geopolitical decision to
willingly allow for ‘the great mining migration’ to occur earlier
this year, saved the community from another dangerous
consolidation of mining power.


Compass Mining recognised this fragility, but also a business
opportunity in being able to become a recognised and trusted
facilitator of retail mining, with the mission to “support the
decentralised growth of hashrate and strengthen network security
by helping more people, learn, explore and mine bitcoin.” To that
end, they provide and support retail access to mining
infrastructure while hardware ownership remains in the hands of
individuals. 


In this interview, I talk to the Founder and CEO of Compass
Mining, Whit Gibbs, about their rapid success, the associated
growing pains they’re overcoming, and the technical details of
connecting retail mining with physical hardware and power
markets.