An Interview With Jeffrey Smith, CIO of GHash.io

Here at CCN, I was able to talk with Jeffrey Smith of Cex.io and ask him a few questions about cex.io and ghash.io. For those readers that are unfamiliar with the Cex.io/Ghash.io websites, they provide simple access to mining power of any size for end users around the world. With Cex.io, users can purchase GH/s on a freely floating hash for Bitcoin exchange. Ghash.io is the mining pool that rented equipment from Cex.io is pointed towards, many other miners also use Ghash.io because they are able to offer 0% fees and a high hashrate consistently. Back a few months ago, CCN raised concerns....

As Ghash.io's total hashrate approaches the feared 51% mark, there has been no official word from the pool's operating exchange, CEX. IO. Data from Blockchain.info indicates that Ghash.io's hashrate has been fluctuating between 40% and 50% of the network's total over the course of the week. Jeffrey Smith, CIO of CEX. IO tweeted on 11th June that the company was planning to release an official statement. He also reassured bitcoiners that he was aware of the situation at hand and did not intend to harm the community. I want everyone to know - we are aware of the 51% on @ghash_io We would....

CEX.IO, a cryptocurrency exchange as well as a cloud mining platform, was seen at the CoinSummit conference where it was a platinum sponsor. With the ability to trade Gigahashes (GH/s) on www.cex.io and put them to work automatically at Ghash.IO, its a killer combo that can’t be beat. The CoinSummit conference was a Bitcoin conference held in London a couple weeks back, from July 10-11. As well as being a platinum sponsor, Jeffrey Smith, the Co-owner of CEX.IO and Ghash.IO, was also a speaker at the conference where he discussed Bitcoin exchanges in a panel.

Tensions over bitcoin's long-term security have eased following a hastily-arranged roundtable of mining participants on 9th July in London. With representatives from all areas of bitcoin mining and ASIC hardware manufacturing in attendance, the most significant thing about the meeting was that it even occurred at all. A forum for discussing these issues is critical to maintaining the integrity of the bitcoin network, as its overall health depends on smooth mining operations with a minimum amount of orphaned blocks, hard forks and dominant players capable of executing a 51% attack. Last....

Bitcoin Mining Pools will meet to discuss a permanent solution to the threat of a 51% attack. In response to community concerns, Ghash.io has posted to Cex.io's blog regarding the threat of a 51% attack presented by Ghash.io's rapid growth, as promised by Jeffrey Smith. In their blogpost, Ghash.io restated their "intention to help protect and grow the broad acceptance of Bitcoin and categorically in no way harm or damage it." In the same breath, Ghash.io explained that they are firmly against temporary solutions such as the implementing of a pool fee. The still largest Bitcoin mining pool....