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It took 24 hours to notice but on the 5th January 2019, Ethereum Classic (ETC), better known as Ethereum’s (ETH) little brother, was hacked using a rare 51% attack.
In essence, a single person was able to control around 60% of the mining power, creating a longer blockchain which gave them the ability to double spend. Something that was picked up by Coinbase and led to the index and others freezing Ethereum Classic from trading. Ethereum Classic is the 18th-largest cryptocurrency, according to CoinMarketCap.
Understandably people in the industry are worried, so I asked the experts whether more attacks are likely and if so, could a 51% attack hit the larger cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin?
Not immutable anymore
Nir Kabessa, President of Blockchain at Columbia University, speculates that while difficult, attacks on the larger cryptocurrencies are no longer out of reach.
With both the hash power securing Ethereum Classic and the market cap of its token supply being less than 1/20th that of the Ethereum main chain, it’s not particularly surprising that Classic was successfully 51% attacked.
Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:
https://www.scoop.it/t/securite-pc-et-internet/?&tag=crypto-currency
https://www.scoop.it/t/securite-pc-et-internet/?&tag=cryptojacking
It took 24 hours to notice but on the 5th January 2019, Ethereum Classic (ETC), better known as Ethereum’s (ETH) little brother, was hacked using a rare 51% attack.
In essence, a single person was able to control around 60% of the mining power, creating a longer blockchain which gave them the ability to double spend. Something that was picked up by Coinbase and led to the index and others freezing Ethereum Classic from trading. Ethereum Classic is the 18th-largest cryptocurrency, according to CoinMarketCap.
Understandably people in the industry are worried, so I asked the experts whether more attacks are likely and if so, could a 51% attack hit the larger cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin?
Not immutable anymore
Nir Kabessa, President of Blockchain at Columbia University, speculates that while difficult, attacks on the larger cryptocurrencies are no longer out of reach.
With both the hash power securing Ethereum Classic and the market cap of its token supply being less than 1/20th that of the Ethereum main chain, it’s not particularly surprising that Classic was successfully 51% attacked.
Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:
https://www.scoop.it/t/securite-pc-et-internet/?&tag=crypto-currency
https://www.scoop.it/t/securite-pc-et-internet/?&tag=cryptojacking