There has been a lot of discussion going on about Miner ID lately. What is Miner ID and how does it work? Is it optional for miners to use and what would be their incentive for or against it?
Which cool new possibilities does it enable?
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Miners can put any random data in their coinbase transaction when they mine a block. At the moment, they put their name in there but there is no security. Any miner can put anything there so they can pretend to be someone else for example.
It is optional but very helpful for miners to advertise information (miner parameters, fees, etc.) and opens the door for them to be able to offer better and safer services to users/merchants.
Miners can sign a blocks proving that they mined it.
This has many legal implications one of which allow miners to prove a product was created with a certain amount of input (energy). This helps with audits and taxing.
MinerID also lets miners advertise specialization.
Current miner ID’s can be viewed here: https://satoshi.io/miners
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