Qubic targets Dogecoin after successfully executing a 51% attack on Monero.
The decision came via a community vote, where DOGE won by a wide margin.
Qubic’s Monero attack resulted in temporary exchange reactions, including Kraken halting deposits.
Dogecoin, with its $35B market cap and merged mining with Litecoin, now faces potential network threats.
The situation highlights the evolving threat landscape for PoW-based cryptocurrencies.
The Qubic network, led by controversial figure Sergey Ivancheglo (known as “Come-from-Beyond”), conducted a community vote to determine which ASIC-enabled PoW blockchain should be the next target of its computational power.
Source: X (@c___f___b)
The options included Dogecoin (DOGE), Kaspa (KAS), and Zcash (ZEC). With over 300 votes, Dogecoin was selected by a wide margin, surpassing the combined totals of its competitors.
Dogecoin, originally launched as a memecoin in 2013, has evolved into a major player with a market cap exceeding $35 billion.
Its broad adoption and relative security make it a high-profile, but potentially vulnerable, target for a coordinated 51% attack.
Just days before announcing Dogecoin as its next target, Qubic’s mining pool achieved majority control over Monero’s network hashrate, successfully executing a 51% attack.
The pool was able to reorganize six blocks, effectively undermining Monero’s decentralization.
Qubic Is Now The Highest Ranked Monero Mining Pool
Source: MiningPoolStats
At the time of writing, Qubic’s pool maintains a hashrate of 2.32 GH/s, making it the dominant mining force on the Monero network, according to MiningPoolStats.
Despite taking control, Qubic emphasized that Monero’s privacy and usability were not compromised:
“The Monero network’s core functionality remains intact… However, the end goal is for the Monero protocol’s security to be provided by Qubic’s miners.”
In response to Qubic’s takeover, Kraken suspended XMR deposits, citing the risk to network integrity. While withdrawals and trading remained open, deposits were paused until Kraken could confirm the network’s safety.
Kraken’s Official Statement On The Monero Situation
Source: Kraken
This move underscores the real-world implications of 51% attacks and their ability to disrupt not just blockchains, but also the platforms that support them.
Should Qubic gain hashrate dominance over Dogecoin, the consequences could be severe. These include:
Double-spending attacks
Network reorganizations
Loss of trust in Dogecoin’s immutability
Dogecoin shares mining infrastructure with Litecoin through merged mining, which may offer some resilience, but could also expose both chains to shared vulnerabilities.
Qubic’s actions are seen by some as a challenge to the security assumptions of older PoW (Proof-of-Work) models.
It serves as a warning that AI-powered and highly coordinated mining pools can outmaneuver fragmented mining communities.
Qubic is a blockchain project that integrates artificial intelligence to optimize distributed computing and mining strategies. It was founded by Sergey Ivancheglo, a co-founder of IOTA.
A 51% attack occurs when a single entity gains majority control of a blockchain network’s computing power, allowing it to manipulate the ledger, reverse transactions, or halt confirmations.
Following a community vote, Dogecoin was selected due to its high visibility and use of ASIC-friendly proof-of-work mining. It received more votes than Kaspa and Zcash combined.
While Dogecoin is a well-established cryptocurrency, a coordinated and well-resourced attack like Qubic’s poses a significant risk to its network integrity, especially if miners are unable or unwilling to respond quickly.
Stay informed, monitor exchange and wallet advisories, and consider diversifying risk until more is known about Qubic’s next steps.
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