<p>Apparently they were hit with a <a href="https://blog.cex.io/news/official-statement-on-the-last-weeks-ddos-attack-against-ghash-io-mining-pool-14156" rel="nofollow noreferrer">massive denial of service attack</a> in response to their growing hash rate. That combined with a subsequent drop in the price lead them to <a href="https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/ghash-cex-scaling-back-mining-pool" rel="nofollow noreferrer">stop their cloud mining operation</a> and focus on their exchange (cex.io).</p>

<p>The other non cloud-miners who left the pool most likely did it in response to the massive appeal from the community to <a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=406541.0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">find another pool</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-15T08:15:23.977Z
I am not fully satisfied with this answer. Seems to me that only ghash.io insiders/staff can provide more info. Anyway, there are no more good answers. Take a +300 bounty!
amaclin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-14T19:37:29.507Z
2017-02-14T19:37:29.507Z
lastcanal
<p>In general, miners will quit a pool when it gets too close to 50%, because they know they could cause the network a lot of trouble if a 51% attack was ever pulled off.</p>

<p>Not sure of the specifics in this case, but in general that's the built-in safety mechanism.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-03T19:55:34.780Z
I knew that, if we suppose that 20% of the miners quit, what happened to 30%?
MCCCS
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-05T23:19:06.170Z
Some people leave, then others decide to leave, then even more start to leave. It's a lemming train, in this case.
Whyte the Weeabear
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-03T17:05:13.180Z
2016-09-03T17:05:13.180Z
Digital Galaxy
<p>Years ago, GHash.io had claim of 40% of the network hashpower. They were close to 51%, where they would have the power to initiate a 51% attack. Now it has 0.2%. How did this happen?</p>

<mining-pools><ghash.io>
How did ghash.io fall?
MCCCS
# How did ghash.io fall?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-08-28)

Years ago, GHash.io had claim of 40% of the network hashpower. They were close to 51%, where they would have the power to initiate a 51% attack. Now it has 0.2%. How did this happen?

**Tags:** mining-pools, ghash.io


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-02-14. Score: 2

Apparently they were hit with a [massive denial of service attack](https://blog.cex.io/news/official-statement-on-the-last-weeks-ddos-attack-against-ghash-io-mining-pool-14156) in response to their growing hash rate. That combined with a subsequent drop in the price lead them to [stop their cloud mining operation](https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/ghash-cex-scaling-back-mining-pool) and focus on their exchange (cex.io).

The other non cloud-miners who left the pool most likely did it in response to the massive appeal from the community to [find another pool](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=406541.0).

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: I am not fully satisfied with this answer. Seems to me that only ghash.io insiders/staff can provide more info. Anyway, there are no more good answers. Take a +300 bounty!  

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### Answer by username_3 on 2016-09-03. Score: 0

In general, miners will quit a pool when it gets too close to 50%, because they know they could cause the network a lot of trouble if a 51% attack was ever pulled off.

Not sure of the specifics in this case, but in general that's the built-in safety mechanism.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I knew that, if we suppose that 20% of the miners quit, what happened to 30%?  
> **username_4**: Some people leave, then others decide to leave, then even more start to leave. It's a lemming train, in this case.  

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