Qubic (QUBIC) is riding a wave of market attention after its mining pool briefly gained majority control over Monero’s (XMR) network hashrate—an event that sparked debate across the cryptocurrency community.
On Wednesday, August 13, Qubic’s price surged 25% to reach a daily high of $0.000003121 before settling at $0.000003006. The rally followed reports that Qubic’s mining pool had achieved 51% dominance in Monero’s network, a milestone confirmed by industry figures such as SlowMist founder Yu Xian and Ledger CTO Charles Guillemet.
In blockchain terms, surpassing 51% of a network’s hashrate means having the power—at least theoretically—to reverse transactions, double-spend coins, and overwrite the blockchain. While Qubic’s control was short-lived and no malicious actions were taken, the incident underscored the vulnerabilities of even well-established privacy coins. Analysts estimated that maintaining such dominance over Monero’s network would have cost roughly $75 million per day.
A Test of Resilience—For Both Monero and Qubic
Qubic founder Sergey Ivancheglo said the move was intended as a stress test to help Monero strengthen its defenses against similar attacks. The spotlight, however, also boosted Qubic’s visibility and market value.
Qubic achieved its network dominance by offering lucrative incentives to Monero miners, leveraging its “useful proof-of-work” system. Under this model, mining rewards are converted into USDT, which is then used to buy and burn Qubic tokens—reducing supply and potentially supporting token value.
Meanwhile, the incident raised renewed questions about Monero’s security. The privacy-focused cryptocurrency has long faced scrutiny from regulators worldwide due to its potential use in illicit transactions. Still, the Monero network held steady, with XMR prices stabilizing at $256 in the aftermath.
