Vertcoin
(VTC) faces yet another cyber-attack where coins were double-spent with 603
blocks replaced by the hackers’ transactions.
Understanding Vertcoin
Vertcoin is a Bitcoin clone
purportedly exhibiting ASIC-resistant traits due to regular mining algorithm
changes. These changes occur as a result of a hard-fork. VTC boasts of a 12.5
million dollar market cap standing at the 194th position by market
capitalization in the crypto market.
Repeat Attack on Vertcoin
Earlier in December 2018, Vertcoin
faced a significant attack
that led to a change in its proof-of-work algorithm. Since then, things seemed
to hold up, up until December 2019.
Just as the month started, the VTC
main blockchain lost 603 blocks after which the attackers replaced them with
553 of their blocks. During the attack, the hackers managed to transfer 125
VTC, an equivalent of $29 to their wallet address.
Salvaging the situation, Bittrex,
Vertcoin’s busiest exchange by real volume, had a lockdown on withdrawals soon
as they recognized the malpractice.
The 51% Attack Explained
It started as a significant
increase in VTC’s hash rate rental prices for its mining algorithm Lyra2Rev3 on
Nov. 30. Purportedly, there are claims that Nicehash, a hash rate rental
service, conducted the attack.
Lovejoy revealed in a statement,
“Given the reorg was just deeper than 600 blocks, (Bittrex’s confirmation
requirement for VTC), it is possible that Bittrex was the original target. But
the double-spend portion attack was aborted due to Bittrex disabling their
wallet before the fork could be released.”
It is possible that the attack run
losses for the attackers. James Lovejoy, a lead maintainer of Vertcoin,
revealed that the process must have required an expenditure of between 0.5 to 1
Bitcoin to complete the hack. Before the hack was stopped, the attackers only
managed to secure 0.44 BTC. Therefore, the attack was a losing situation.
un losses for the attackers. James Lovejoy, a lead maintainer of Vertcoin, revealed that the process must have required an expenditure of between 0.5 to 1 Bitcoin to complete the hack. Before the hack was stopped, the attackers only managed to secure 0.44 BTC. Therefore, the attack was a losing situation.
