Multiple Mining Pools Are Facing Connectivity Issues

Some of the world’s biggest mining pools are facing severe disruptions.

Major crypto mining pools including Binance Pool, F2pool, Poolin and ViaBTC are reporting connectivity problems, they said in their Telegram channels in the past 24 hours.

• The issue is caused by domain name system (DNS) “pollution,” Binance Pool and Poolin said on their Chinese Telegram channels. F2pool also said the pool’s domain name is not being properly resolved.
• The DNS is the internet service that converts domain names like coindesk.com into internet protocol (IP) addresses, which are strings of numbers. DNS poisoning can occur when a hacker redirects traffic from the domain name to an imposter website.
• ViaBTC users are also reporting on Telegram that they are having difficulty accessing the pool. On its English Telegram channel, the pool acknowledged the issue but did not specifically mention DNS connectivity problems.
• “The connectivity issues appear to be primarily affecting Chinese miners,” said Alejandro De La Torre, founder of ProofofWork.Energy consulting firm and former Poolin vice president. De La Torre thinks the Chinese government is likely interfering with the mining pools.
• Binance Pool’s bitcoin hashrate is down 14% in the last 24 hours. F2pool has dropped almost 8% and ViaBTC has fallen by 7%, according to BIT Mining’s information platform.
• A large part of the pools’ operations are located in China, which has vowed to eliminate crypto mining. While their hashrate does not come only from China, and they have said they plan to exit the country by year-end, the publication of material in Mandarin could be interpreted as courting its population.
• Binance Pool, F2pool, and Poolin advised users to modify their DNS to solve the issue. Binance Pool said that a long term solution is to use a VPN to circumvent the country’s telecoms carrier.