Bitcoin SV a.k.a. BSV, the alleged Satoshi’s fork, has never been very good at staying away from controversy for a long time. It was recently the news after the network was attacked in an illegal block reorganization by malicious entities. Since then, several metrics went for a toss as it price spiralled back to lows.
According to the Switzerland-based non-profit organization called Bitcoin Association, an unknown miner operating called ‘Zulupool’ caused block re-organisation attacks on the Bitcoin SV [BSV] network. Also called. ‘block withholding,’ this kind of attack, typically consists of a fraudulent entity creating a chain of competing blocks which are re-written so that the attacker can take advantage of. Meaning, double spends that runs in parallel with the original chain. These blocks are created in an obscure manner which are then launched altogether to orphan the correct blocks from honest nodes.
The attack reportedly first took place on the 24th of June, but the fraudulent miner did not stop there and carried three more attacks on July 1, 6 and 9. After the European cold storage provider, Gravity suspended Bitcoin SV trading, cryptocurrency exchange such as OKEx and Huobi followed suit.
Bitcoin Asscoiation confirms double spend on Bitcoin SV
Bitcoin Association confirmed that while Bitcoin SV’s transactions were double spent. However, it further went on to explain that,
“BSV transactions have been double spent, but at this stage, there is no evidence that these fraudulent activities have been carried out to the detriment of another (innocent) party. It is possible that the malicious ‘Zulupool’ has been double-spending their own transactions.”
While the BSV devs are working with the law enforcement officers to catch the culprit, the wider community expressed concerns over the collapsing metrics Bitcoin SV’s hash rate is already minuscule when it comes to the robust Bitcoin [BTC]. At the time of writing, the hash rate figure was hovering near all-time low levels which made it even more prone to attacks.
Its trading volume also went on a downward spiral. The price of the cryptocurrency is probably the only thing that has helped it from a total collapse. Along with the broader market, BSV also underwent a minor surge over the past 24-hours which catapulted its price to $124.73.