Bitcoin Network Experiences Third Reorg in Less Than a Month

A recent blockchain reorganization (reorg) has affected Bitcoin's network. This is the third incident in less than a month, with previous cases occurring on August 16 and 24. According to Galaxy Research, the latest reorg occurred at block height 966,500.

Two different mining pools, SpiderPool and AntPool, produced valid competing blocks built on the same parent block. However, only one of them was treated as the tip of the Bitcoin blockchain after reaching Galaxy's node. AntPool's block, which contained 4,359 transactions and had a timestamp of 11:30:30 UTC, became part of the canonical chain.

The competing blocks were a result of normal network behavior, where miners in different parts of the network might see different blocks simultaneously. This led to Galaxy's node initially unaware that there were two versions of block 966,500. However, when AntPool produced block 966,501 on top of its version, Galaxy's node switched to AntPool's branch.

The SpiderPool block became a stale or orphaned block, containing a reward of roughly 3.1389 BTC. In contrast, AntPool's winning block earned about 3.1411 BTC. This incident highlights the normal functioning of Bitcoin's network, where competing blocks are not necessarily concerning events.