The privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero is facing an unprecedented challenge! The Qubic platform, founded by IOTA co-founder Sergey Ivancheglo, is attempting to seize over 51% of Monero's computing power.
Monero Facing 51% Attack Crisis
According to MiningPoolStats data, the Qubic platform's share of global Monero computing power has surged from less than 2% on May 18 this year to over 27%, becoming one of the largest mining pools for Monero. Regarding this, Qubic's founder Sergey Ivancheglo openly discussed on the social platform X, planning to seize over 51% of Monero's computing power from August 2 to August 31, 2025, to demonstrate the capability of Qubic's "useful Proof of Work" (uPoW) mechanism. Sergey Ivancheglo announced his plan on X:
Many have asked how Qubic can achieve sustained 51% computing power dominance on Monero, especially when 50% of Qubic's mining time must be used for Aigarth tasks. I initially responded: "Let's give $XMR miners a surprise," but then I realized the community would benefit from transparency, as XMR miners might find countermeasures and change strategies. So, here is our next phase plan:
. Enter stealth mode, making it impossible to assess real computing power by analyzing Qubic network traffic.
. Make switching to XMR mining unpredictable by any entity other than the Dispatcher.
. Isolate blocks from other miners.
Like the Monero community, I am seeking countermeasures against Qubic's 51% computing power control. This is crucial for the cryptocurrency industry, as we may all face non-benevolent attacks in the future. To raise awareness, first among $XMR holders and then among everyone else, I suggest Monero mining pools temporarily stop reporting their computing power to sites like https://miningpoolstats.stream. Qubic mining pools will start doing this from next Wednesday.
What is Qubic?
Founded in 2019, Qubic emerged from the IOTA ecosystem. Its core feature is the "useful Proof of Work" (uPoW) mechanism. Qubic has gathered massive computing power by rewarding miners participating in Monero CPU mining, while converting mined Monero into stablecoins to buy back and burn its own tokens, creating a deflationary economic incentive mechanism.
Sergey Ivancheglo's plan has raised serious concerns in the Monero community about network decentralization and security. If Qubic controls over half the computing power, it could potentially reject valid blocks from other mining pools, severely impacting network operations.
Analyst: A Warning to All PoW Networks
The Monero community reacted strongly to Sergey Ivancheglo's public statement. However, Unstoppable Wallet analyst Dan Dadybayo pointed out that Ivancheglo has actually created an "incentive game" that leads Monero miners to "voluntarily hand over network control" due to higher rewards from Qubic. Dadybayo emphasized that while Monero spends about $130,000 daily to maintain network security, it would only take $7,000 to $10,000 daily to potentially control most computing power. Therefore, this incident not only threatens Monero but is also a warning to all PoW networks:
Qubic claims 'we don't want to harm anyone,' but intent is not important. This is not just about vulnerabilities, but about capital (incentive mechanisms).
Strong mathematics alone are not enough; we need incentive-aligned, resilient infrastructure, or the next 'attack' might just be a more profitable transaction.
What is Monero? How Dangerous is a 51% Attack?
Monero is a cryptocurrency focused on privacy, using the RandomX algorithm, emphasizing anonymity and decentralization, and widely used in transaction scenarios requiring high privacy.
A 51% attack refers to a single entity or group controlling over half of a blockchain network's computing power, which could be used to reject blocks from other mining pools, delay transaction confirmations, or even perform double spend or force protocol changes, severely undermining the network's trust foundation.
