DMM Bitcoin tries to calm down customers amid 51% attack concerns
The Japanese cryptocurrency exchange says it will be keeping an eye on transactions and new orders.
Several hours after the first reports of a “51% attack” targeting Ethereum Classic (ETC), concerns among cryptocurrency traders are on the rise. DMM Bitcoin, the virtual currency business of Japanese Internet giant DMM.com, has sought to calm down its clients amid these concerns.
In a notice on its website, DMM Bitcoin explains it does not handle ETC per se. However, the company notes the latest reports of the 51% attack.
DMM Bitcoin says it is paying attention to the order management when new orders are placed and will monitor closely customer transactions.
A 51% attack typically targets a blockchain. It is organized by a group of miners controlling more than 50% of the network’s computing power. The attackers may be able to prevent new transactions from gaining confirmations, allowing them to stop payments among users. The attackers may also be able to reverse transactions that were completed while they were in control of the network. This means they could double-spend coins.
The latest reports by Kraken into the incident state:
“As the 51% attack appears to be ongoing, we have temporarily halted ETC deposits and withdrawals. We will continue to monitor the situation, but will bring ETC funding back online only once we believe it is safe to do so.
Posted Jan 08, 2019 – 00:52 UTC”
“Due to a potential 51% attack on the Ethereum Classic network, we have temporarily increased the number of confirmations required for ETC deposits to 500 (roughly 1 hour and 56 minutes). We will continue to monitor the situation and lower it back to 120 confirmations once our developers believe it is safe to do so.
Posted Jan 07, 2019 – 19:22 UTC”
