Monero Talk

If It Isn’t PoW, It Isn’t Decentralized w/ Dr. K | EPI 361

September 8th, 2025  |  1 hr 43 mins

bitcoin, blockchain, consensys, crypto, cryptocurrency, drk, fungible, monero, monerotalk, monerotopia, privacy, privacycoin, qubic, qui, xmr

TODAY'S SHOW: In this episode of Monero Talk, host Douglas Tuman interviews Dr. K, a proof-of-work researcher with over eight years of experience. They dive into Monero’s ongoing “qubic attack,” where mining pool Qubic controls ~35% of the network’s hash rate and causes chain reorganizations.

Dr. K, whose background spans ConsenSys, Grid Plus (creator of the Lattice One wallet), and a National Science Foundation grant for PoW research, proposes a fix: work shares. By sampling multiple proofs per block instead of one, work shares make the network resistant to attacks from miners with less than 51% hash power. Dr. K is already drafting a pull request to add this to Monero’s code.The discussion also explores why Dr. K views proof-of-work as superior to proof-of-stake—emphasizing immutability, permissionlessness, and competitive fairness—and his own project, Quiet Network (QUI), a scalable PoW blockchain with an energy-based token (QI) designed for stable purchasing power.

Vini Barbosa’s unfiltered take on the Monero selfish mining attacks and PoW | EPI 360

September 1st, 2025  |  1 hr 17 mins

bitcoin, blockchain, crypto, cryptocurrency, fungible, monero, monerotalk, monerotopia, nano, privacy, privacycoin, proofofwork, qubic, xmr, zcash

TODAY'S SHOW: In this episode of Monero Talk Douglas Tuman has a discussion with Vinny Barbosa, a Brazilian crypto writer and privacy advocate, about the current challenges facing the Monero network, particularly the ongoing selfish mining attacks by the Qubic pool.

The conversation explores both short-term and long-term solutions, including the proposed "Publish or Perish" soft fork to disincentivize selfish mining, defensive mining strategies, and the controversial idea of incorporating proof-of-stake elements or a finality layer to enhance network security. Vinny argues that while Monero’s proof-of-work and ASIC resistance are valuable for decentralization and permissionless mining, all proof-of-work systems are inherently vulnerable to such attacks, and the community should remain open to researching hybrid or alternative consensus models without ideological dogma.

The dialogue emphasizes the importance of open debate, technical innovation, and community resilience in navigating Monero’s current crisis, while also touching on broader themes of digital cash, sovereignty, and interoperability with other privacy and scalable cryptocurrencies like Zcash and Nano.