Qubic vs. Monero: Threat or Spectacle On August 11, 2025, the Qubic team announced a 51% attack on the Monero blockchain and later outlined their next target—Dogecoin. For the crypto community, such statements sounded alarming, as these incidents raise questions about the security of the network and the sustainability of its economy. In reality, the anonymous coin's blockchain did not experience any tangible consequences, and many perceived the project's actions as an attempt at manipulation and attention-seeking. Libertarian Core In 2012, on the BitcoinTalk forum, a user with the nickname Come-from-Beyond wrote about working on a digital asset that aimed to overcome the shortcomings of Bitcoin—Qubic (Quorum-Based Coin, QBC). According to his idea, a more ideal analogue of the first cryptocurrency should include the following features: No fees for transferring funds Untraceable transactions “Proof of work” by miners through the bandwidth of their Internet connection tied to an IP address, eliminating the need for expensive hardware Coin emission rate determined by a quorum of miners instead of developers A closer resemblance of digital assets to fiat currency No need to store a resource-intensive blockchain node; each miner could process only part of the network Significantly increased transaction speed A greener blockchain with lower energy consumption The forum was initially skeptical. The developer was asked numerous questions about technical details, particularly regarding the quorum-based consensus mechanism and network protection against 51% attacks. Some participants considered the project unrealistic and ironically advised Sergey Ivancheglo to start by studying the basic principles of cryptography and blockchain architecture. Over time, discussions became more substantive: users showed interest in Qubic and began asking detailed questions about the technical side of the project. One of the first in-depth explanations from Ivancheglo described how the network could be protected against a Sybil attack. During the same period, Come-from-Beyond published a document about Qubic. Though it is unavailable at the time of writing, its description conveys the essence, emphasizing the “freedom-centric” nature of the network, which the author believed would appeal to libertarians. Later, conceptual additions to the network architecture appeared. One discussion focused on the role of individuals in the project community—asserting that even users without specialized knowledge should be able to influence its development. Qubic Now Before launching Qubic, Ivancheglo participated in the creation of NXT, one of the first cryptocurrencies with a Proof-of-Stake consensus. Later, he worked on IOTA, whose team presented the IOTA direction of Qubic as a priority in 2018. However, a year later, Ivancheglo left the project to focus on the independent development of the decentralized AI concept—AIGarth, based on Qubic. In April 2022, the Qubic mainnet was launched with a token of the same name. AIGarth was integrated into the network, which uses the Proof-of-Useful-Work (PoUW) consensus. Proof-of-Useful-Work is a mechanism in which computing resources of the network are directed toward performing real, practically meaningful tasks, such as training artificial intelligence models. According to internal documents, the startup provides computing resources for solving outsourced problems, but the technology is explicitly excluded from military applications by the company's memorandum. The network architecture allows validators to operate using their RAM. Qubic uses the Quorum-Based Computation (QBC) protocol, supported by 676 computing nodes, of which more than two-thirds must agree to make decisions. The composition of these nodes is updated every epoch based on their rating. This approach has enabled a record speed of up to 15.5 million TPS. Freedom to Dominate As part of the PoUW concept, Qubic was supposed to implement the first stage of “computation outsourcing” and test it in real-world conditions. The attempt to control the Monero blockchain began as a proof of concept. On August 11, 2025, during the initial phase of the attack, Qubic split its resources between mining XMR and training AIGarth. The approach eventually became almost three times more profitable than directly mining the coin and attracted a flood of computing power. At first, the Qubic community sold the mined XMR and used the proceeds to buy QUBIC tokens for subsequent burning, creating a deflationary effect. Later, following a vote, the reward mechanism was changed: half of the funds continued to be burned, and the other half was distributed among miners as a bonus. The inclusion of a fee switch served as a powerful economic incentive, attracting participants from other Monero pools and contributing to the “capture” of the network. Market Reaction and Consequences The events sparked criticism from experts, opinion leaders, and especially the Monero community. Many saw Qubic’s actions as more of a PR stunt than a real threat, highlighting the discrepancy between the stated results and actual data. Ultimately, most observers agreed that the practical effect of the attack was minimal, though it attracted attention to the industry. Qubic launched a dual mining pool where users could simultaneously mine Monero (XMR) and QUBIC. This allowed the hashrate to increase quickly and promoted the pool due to the additional income from XMR. Since July 25, the day the incident was announced, QUBIC's price rose by 75% to $0.0000034. At the time of writing, it was trading at $0.0000026. Meanwhile, XMR experienced a minor drop of 25% between July 25 and August 15 but has since recovered to $265. As a result of Qubic's actions, online mentions of Monero reached a five-year peak, and PoW searches were at their highest in three years. During the attack, the Monero network continued to function normally and process transactions without delays. According to the Qubic blog, the main lesson—besides demonstrating the outsourcing of mining power—was the economic motivation for miners to carry out attacks on networks. ”Now that the test capture is complete, the core functionality of the Monero network remains intact. Its privacy, speed, and usability have not been compromised. However, the ultimate goal is for the security of the Monero protocol to be provided by Qubic miners. In this case, rewards will flow through Qubic pools, generating higher profits and creating a new incentive system for Monero miners.” At the same time, Ivancheglo's project itself was subjected to a DDoS attack lasting more than a week, which the team managed successfully. Next Steps: Dogecoin in the Crosshairs On August 17, the Qubic community voted to select the next target for a “teachable attack” on mining pools: Dogecoin. According to Ivancheglo, what is happening is simply mining. He noted it would take about a month to prepare, and in the meantime, the Qubic pool will continue to profitably mine XMR. Following the incident, the privacy-focused cryptocurrency community proposed new ways to protect against 51% attacks, including: Equipment localization Transition to combined mining for XMR and other cryptocurrencies Implementation of the ChainLocks solution from the Dash project The consequences of these events are likely to affect the entire crypto industry, potentially driving stronger protection for PoW networks or their reorganization. However, Qubic’s actions left an ambivalent impression: it is one thing to operate as “white hats” at the request of developers, and quite another to attack without an invitation. This approach appears especially contradictory against the background of the non-aggression principle—the fundamental idea of libertarianism Ivancheglo emphasized when introducing Qubic in 2012.