Determining Which Miner or Pool Mined a Block: A Closer Look
The Ethereum network relies on miners and pools to validate transactions, create new blocks, and secure the network. However, one of the most frustrating aspects of mining is determining which miner or pool mined a particular block. The solution lies in understanding how miners and pools are identified, as well as the process for calculating their hashing power.
How Miners and Pools Identify Themselves
In Ethereum, each miner uses a unique codebook to identify themselves on the blockchain. This codebook contains information such as the miner’s wallet address, public key, and hash rate. Each block is mined with a set of blocks from previous blocks in the chain, called the «messaging» or «blockset». The first 2^64 – 1 (or 1,073,741,824) messages in the blockset are considered to be the last 2^64 blocks, and these are usually mined by a group of miners known as the «mainnet» miners.
The mainnet miners use their codebook to identify themselves on each block and claim ownership. The first message in the block is called the «first message», which includes information about the miner’s wallet address, public key, and hash rate. Other messages are added to the block after this point, but they still contain metadata that helps identify the miner.
How Pools Identify Themselves
Ethereum pools are groups of miners who share their computing power to validate transactions and create new blocks. Pools can be thought of as «virtual mining organizations». Each member in a pool has their own codebook, which contains information about their wallet address, public key, and hash rate.
To identify themselves on the blockchain, each member in a pool typically uses a unique identifier known as a «hash signature» or «pool ID». This hash signature is used to confirm that the member belongs to the specific pool. Pool IDs are usually generated randomly when members join the pool and are stored securely on the Ethereum network.
Calculating Hashrate
Now, let’s talk about how we can determine which miner or pool mined a particular block. The solution lies in understanding the process of calculating hash rate for each miner and pool.
When a new block is created, it contains a set of messages that identify the miner(s) who participated in its creation. Each message has a specific weight value associated with it, which indicates the miner’s contribution to the block. These weights are typically calculated based on the miner’s mining speed.
To calculate the hash rate for each miner and pool, we need to know the weight values of all messages in the block. This allows us to determine the percentage of the last X blocks that were mined by a particular miner or pool.
Assuming an arbitrary number of blocks (X) exist on the blockchain prior to the current block being mined, we can calculate the total hash rate for each miner and pool as follows:
Let’s say the weight values of all messages in the block are:
| Message ID | Weight Value |
| — | — |
| 1 | 10.5% |
| 2 | 20.8% |
| 3 | 30.4% |
| … | … |
We can then calculate the hash rate for each miner and pool as follows:
Hash Rate = (Weight of message 1 / Total weight) + (Weight of message 2 / Total weight) + …
Using this formula, we can determine the percentage of the last X blocks that were mined by a particular miner or pool.
Example
Suppose we want to calculate the hash rate for each miner and pool on the Ethereum network. We know that there are currently 500 blocks in the blockchain, and we want to find out which miner(s) and pool(s) mined the most recent block (block 1).
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