Crypto Mining Blog

After the closure of ScryptGuild Scrypt mining pool earlier this year, BTC Guild – one of the large Bitcoin mining pools was apparently facing the possibility of getting shut down. The creator and operator of the BTC Guild mining pool has announced that the two main reasons for deciding to close the pool are the increase of attempts to hack the service (though it never has been hacked) and the new regulations that the US government is pushing for the Bitcoin related businesses. To read the official announcement posted on Bitcointalk about the closure of the pool. Eleuthria, the owner and operator of the BTC Guild, has however since announced that there is significant interest from multiple parties to purchase the pool, so the ownership of the pool could change and it may continue to operate under different management. Today however some more good news were announced – apparently we are not going to be loosing the BTC Guild pool, a service many of us have been using for years mining Bitcoins, and it is most likely not going to be sold either, but will continue to operate. Here is the latest post regarding the situation from Eleuthria:

A brief update on the weekend’s events: BTC Guild is not closing down in the near future. BTC Guild is not being sold in the near future. I am beginning to go over options with some colleagues in other countries and lawyers to consider moving BTC Guild to another country. This may involve taking on a partner, but I would maintain the primary role in the management and operations of the pool itself. More on this will be made available as it develops.

That process will be the answer to the concern over regulation. The second part, the concern about the cost of a successful compromise of the pool, is something I am working on addressing. I have already made some changes to the pool hot wallet to significantly decrease the amount of funds kept online. It will mean failed withdrawals may happen more frequently (we haven’t had that happen in many months), though it is preferable to have a few withdrawals delayed for 12-24 hours than have the site shut down due to a compromise.

I am also exploring ways that the pool could make a transition to coinbase payments to further reduce the amount of funds at risk at any given time. This probably won’t happen for a few months, if it happens at all.