Understanding Cadence Mining: How Fractal Innovates on Bitcoin's Security Model 🔒
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When it comes to blockchain security, Bitcoin's Proof of Work (PoW) remains the gold standard. At Fractal, we've developed a unique approach called Cadence Mining that builds upon Bitcoin's proven security model while enabling greater scalability and participation.
Cadence Mining is Fractal's hybrid consensus mechanism that combines two complementary approaches in a carefully designed ratio:
One-third merged-mining with Bitcoin: Leveraging existing Bitcoin mining operations and security
Two-thirds permissionless mining: Opening participation to a broader range of miners
This balanced structure creates a security framework that harnesses Bitcoin's strength while enabling independent growth and resilience.
While merged-mining (covered in detail in another post) provides significant advantages by leveraging Bitcoin's security, permissionless mining represents an equally important component of Fractal's consensus mechanism:
The permissionless component of Fractal mining currently achieves approximately 1 EH/s of hash rate — a significant figure that surpasses many standalone PoW networks.
This impressive participation demonstrates the strength of Fractal's mining incentives and creates several key benefits:
Greater Decentralization: By enabling participation from miners who aren't already invested in Bitcoin mining, Fractal expands its security provider base.
Network Resilience: The dual mining approach provides redundancy and ensures the network remains secure even if one component faces challenges.
Broader Geographical Distribution: Permissionless mining enables participation from regions that may have different economic considerations for mining operations.
Flexibility in Mining Options: Miners can decide which approach to mining they prefer at various times, optimizing for efficiency, difficulty, and other economic factors at any time.
Cadence Mining's implementation involves several sophisticated components that differentiate it from traditional mining approaches:
Dynamic difficulty adjustment for both mining types
30-second block time (20x faster than Bitcoin)
Intelligent balancing of rewards between merged and permissionless mining
Layered protection against various attack vectors
Complementary security models that strengthen each other
Compatibility with existing mining hardware
Streamlined integration process
Combined Security: Merged-mining (~600 EH/s) plus permissionless mining (~0.7 EH/s) (Updated on April 23, 2025)
Block Production: One block every 30 seconds, enabling higher throughput
Network Stability: >99.9% uptime since launch
Cadence Mining's hybrid approach creates unique security characteristics that significantly enhance the network's resistance to attacks. An attacker would need to control substantial portions of both mining components simultaneously to compromise the network, creating a multi-layered defense mechanism. The economic cost of attacking both vectors at once is prohibitively high, requiring massive resources across different mining approaches. This dual approach creates security redundancy not found in single-vector systems, ensuring that even if one component experiences challenges, the overall network remains secure and operational.
The design of Cadence Mining creates positive-sum incentives that benefit all participants in the ecosystem.
Permissionless miners benefit from the security inherited from Bitcoin's established network, adding legitimacy and trust to their operations. Bitcoin miners gain additional revenue streams without compromising their primary operations, enhancing their overall profitability. The broader ecosystem benefits from both increased security through multiple mining vectors and greater decentralization through diverse participation models.
This alignment of incentives creates a virtuous cycle that strengthens the entire network over time.
The Cadence Mining approach also creates a natural economic equilibrium that benefits the entire ecosystem.
Since both Fractal and Bitcoin mining use compatible hardware and software infrastructure, miners can fluidly distribute their hash power between permissionless Fractal mining and Bitcoin mining (with merged mining rewards) based on the relative prices and profitability of FB and BTC.
This dynamic allocation optimizes mining efficiency across both networks: when FB value increases, more hash power shifts toward permissionless Fractal mining; when BTC strengthens, miners emphasize Bitcoin mining while still collecting merged mining rewards.
This self-balancing system ensures optimal resource allocation, maintains network security through varying market conditions, and maximizes returns for miners regardless of which token is currently more valuable.
While merged-mining offers a way to participate while mining Bitcoin, permissionless mining provides its own distinct benefits:
Miners can focus exclusively on Fractal
Opportunity for specialized mining operations
Lower barriers to entry compared to Bitcoin mining
Direct FB token rewards (25 FB per block) and fees
Reduced competition compared to Bitcoin mining
Potential for higher ROI for efficient operations
Multiple pool options specifically for Fractal mining
Diverse ecosystem of mining service providers
Community-driven mining initiatives
Cadence Mining represents a significant innovation in blockchain consensus design. By combining the security advantages of Bitcoin merged-mining with the accessibility and decentralization benefits of permissionless mining, Fractal has created a uniquely balanced and robust security model.
This hybrid approach ensures that Fractal benefits from Bitcoin's security while maintaining its own independent mining ecosystem. The combination creates greater security, decentralization, and resilience than either approach could achieve alone.
The impressive adoption of both mining components demonstrates the strength of this model and points to a promising future where Bitcoin and Fractal continue to develop a mutually beneficial relationship, enhancing the security and sustainability of both networks.
For more information about permissionless mining on Fractal, visit our documentation at docs.fractalbitcoin.io or join our community to connect with experienced miners.