Major Bitcoin Cash Pools Force 12.5% Mining Tax on Community

Leading Bitcoin Cash (BCH) personalities, including Bitmain CEO Jihan Wu and Bitcoin.com CEO Roger Ver, proposed on Jan. 22 an “infrastructure funding plan” that would see miners donate 12.5 percent of all block rewards to a Hong Kong entity. Many in the community turned harsh critics of the proposal.

The fund would be used to promote Bitcoin Cash development, which the miners argue is a “far better solution” than having independent “corporate donors,” such as the Blockstream company for Bitcoin (BTC).

The initial funding would be activated in May 2020 and run for six months. The expected revenue, based on current prices, would be approximately $6 million. This money would be donated for management to a Hong Kong corporation. It is worth noting that the proposal would activate around the scheduled reward halving. With current block rewards, the revenue would amount to about $13 million

Published by the CEO of the Btc.top mining pool, Jiang Zhuoer, the post revealed that the proposal is supported by Jihan Wu, who controls the Antpool and BTC.com pools; Haipo Yang, from ViaBTC; and Roger Ver, CEO of Bitcoin.com.

Together, they account for approximately 27 percent of BCH’s hashrate, with the majority being in the hands of unknown miners.

One of the more controversial aspects of the proposal is a stated willingness to “orphan” blocks of miners who do not comply. Orphaning blocks is the practice of removing blocks from the chain and is generally similar to a 51 percent attack. 

Zhuoer revealed in a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) that the organizers would divert some of their BTC hashrate, of which they hold 30 percent, to ensure compliance.

Community criticism

Many in the Bitcoin Cash community criticized the decision for a number of reasons.

The primary concern is about centralization. The funds would be routed to a corporation, instead of a nonprofit foundation. The absence of any kind of voting procedure would mean that the owners of the company would have control over all Bitcoin Cash development, the community argues.

Some also levied concerns of Chinese government interference. Profitability issues were also mentioned, as the “tax” would directly affect the amount of revenue going to miners.

Amaury Séchet, a Bitcoin Cash developer, defended the proposal arguing that due to the nature of mining, it is not compulsory. However, he conceded that control of the funds is an important issue. Séchet proposing a committee of people with a “proven track record” of supporting the project, which would include himself.

In the AMA, Zhuoer gave vague answers to questions of governance, saying that those details “are under discussion.” But he reiterated that, even though the details may change, the mining tax will still be introduced.

Bitcoin.com and Btc.top representatives did not immediately reply to Cointelegraph’s inquiries.