Original author: Amin Ayan

Original translation: Saoirse, Foresight News

Days after successfully taking control of a majority of the Monero (XMR) network’s hashrate, the Qubic community has voted to target Dogecoin (DOGE) for its next 51% attack.

Key Takeaways:

• After claiming to control the majority of the Monero network's computing power, the Qubic community voted to target Dogecoin next.
• An attack on Monero forced the Kraken exchange to suspend deposits, raising concerns about the security of its proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrency.
• Experts are divided over whether the Qubic attack means it has completely taken over the network, but the risk of censoring transactions and rewriting the blockchain remains.

Qubic founder Sergey Ivancheglo (nicknamed "Come-from-Beyond" in the crypto world) asked the project community: What will be the next ASIC-capable Proof-of-Work (PoW) project worth targeting?

Candidates included Dogecoin (DOGE), Kaspa (KAS), and Zcash (ZEC). Ivancheglo confirmed the results of the vote in a post on the X platform on Sunday: "The Qubic community has chosen Dogecoin."

Dogecoin wins Qubic vote, with over 300 community members supporting it

Dogecoin, with a market capitalization of over $35 billion, received more than 300 votes, more than the total number of votes for all other candidate currencies.

Last week, Qubic shocked the crypto industry when it announced it had gained control of a majority of Monero’s hashrate.

After a month-long battle with Monero miners, Qubic's mining pool successfully reorganized six blocks. According to MiningPoolStats, at press time, the pool's hash rate was approximately 2.32 GH/s, making it the most powerful mining pool in the Monero network.

After the takeover, Qubic stressed that the core functionality of Monero, including privacy and transaction speed, was not affected, but added that its "ultimate goal" was for Qubic miners to provide security for Monero.

The attack forced the Kraken exchange to temporarily suspend Monero deposits, citing a "potential risk to network integrity."

Monero withdrawals and trading services are unaffected, and deposit services are expected to restart once the exchange determines that the network has returned to stability.

When asked about the reasoning behind the attack, Ivancheglo wrote on the X platform: “A lot of electricity is being wasted on pointless proof-of-work (PoW), and we need to use that electricity for artificial intelligence (AI).”

He added: "These words may sound difficult to understand now, and I can't reveal more at the moment, but everyone will understand in the future."

While Qubic claims the incident proves it has complete control over the Monero network, Monero developers have refuted this.

Luke Parker, lead developer of SeraiDEX, believes that the reorganization of 6 blocks does not conclusively prove that this is a successful 51% attack, but only shows that "the attacker with a lot of computing power is lucky."

But others disagree. Zhong Chenming, co-founder of cybersecurity firm SlowMist Technology, said the attack "appears to have been successful," warning that the Qubic mining pool could theoretically rewrite the blockchain and censor any transaction.

The confrontation began in late June when Qubic announced it would switch its proof-of-work model, originally designed for AI-related tasks, to Monero mining.

Monero (XMR) earned through mining will be used to repurchase and destroy Qubic tokens, which creates a direct economic incentive for Qubic to control the Monero network.

Impact on Proof of Work (PoW)

Qubic's expansion plans are raising new concerns about proof-of-work cryptocurrencies. By targeting well-known networks like Dogecoin, the project is testing the resilience of some of the most established blockchains in the crypto space.

A 51% attack occurs when a single entity controls a majority of the network's mining power, enabling double-spending transactions and block reorganization.

While Dogecoin is much larger than Monero and more difficult to attack, the Qubic community’s vote clearly demonstrates their intention to try.

Dogecoin is one of the most well-known meme coins and is also one of the top ten digital assets by market capitalization. Once chaos occurs in its network, it may trigger a chain reaction in the entire crypto market.