Mining Pool gets $300k payout for mining one block

• Mining pool Sparkpool receives $300k (2,100 ETH) in reward for mining one single block.
• Speculations are afoot to find out the reason behind this snafu. While many feel that it is a simple mistake, some think that it is an attempt at money laundering.

The mining pool Sparkpool received a whopping $300k (2,100 ETH) reward for mining one single block. The normal reward for mining a block is 3 ETH (~$500), i.e., 700 times less than what Sparkpool got. Jimmy Zhong, the co-founder of IOST, made the following observation: 

“A whopping 2,100 #ETH(~$300k) tip was just paid to the miners on the #Ethereum network. What a generous guest... or mistake.”

Coindesk feels that this could be an innocent sign of goodwill from an anonymous supporter of the mining community. The community has recently been divided over the type of mining chips which can be employed by miners seeking to compete for rewards. Some people don’t believe that this is a simple mistake or a gesture of goodwill and feel that something much more sinister is afoot. As a Redditor who goes by “aznar” points out:

“That's actually a good way of washing profits, so yeah if the tx was not seen until the block was mined with it, and all were mined by the same pool, then its a good explanation.”

Some also feel that this incident may put a permanent dent on the public perception of cryptocurrencies. As Redditor “IllegalAlien333” says:

“Headlines like this are why your average consumer won't even consider using crypto over credit cards. Human error and irreversible transactions are a legitimate concern. I know this is referencing a dev issue but the fact remains.”