Bitcoin SV (BSV) suffers 51% attack: exchanges delisting risk amplified
Bitcoin SV (BSV) blockchain suffered yet another 51% attack beginning around 11:45 am Tuesday. The latest attack was initiated by unknown perpetrators who essentially rolled back and altered transactions on the network to initiate three shadow chains.
The vulnerability was noted during a regular monitoring exercise by analytics provider Coin Metrics. At the time of reporting, however, it was not clear if there had been any double-spending as was the case in previous incidents.
FARUM has identified a 51% attack today on the BSV network at around 11:45AM EDT.https://t.co/Oy19UDw53t https://t.co/T3MMRHqPe8
— CoinMetrics.io (@coinmetrics) August 3, 2021
Meanwhile, in their initial comments on the latest attack, industry analysts are attributing BSV ongoing attacks to the network’s known vulnerabilities.
“BSV is going through a massive 51% attack. After an attempted attack yesterday, some serious hashing power was unleashed today at 11:46AM and attackers are succeeding. Over a dozen blocks are being reorgd & up to 3 versions of the chain being mined simultaneously across pools,” said Lucas Nuzzi, a network data product manager at Coin Metrics.
Meanwhile, the timing of Bitcoin SV attack is certain to raise eyebrows. The cryptocurrency spearheaded by the self-proclaimed creator of Bitcoin, Craig Wright, has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Most recently, cold storage provider Gravity suspended both withdrawals and deposits from BSV, citing liquidity providers suspending access to the token’s liquidity.
Several crypto exchanges have also suspended BSV transactions last month. Huobi was the first to make this move, then OKEx and Bittrex followed suit after the asset’s blockchain suffered a 51% attack. The network was attacked on 8 July by an illegal block reorganization.
Still, there is a real possibility that more exchanges will delist the token following the last attack.
Interestingly, however, news of the latest attack appears to have had a little effect on the Bitcoin SV price. At the time of writing, the BSV traded at $139, marginally down by three percent at around the time the breach was discovered.
Given this poor network security, BSV’s price lost more than 70% from its peak at $441 in April when it had its first halving. At the time, the event reduced its block rewards from 12.5 to 6.25 BSV, causing the hash rate to drop by 50% as many miners exited the network when the cryptocurrency’s price didn’t surge.
