The hard fork of Bitcoin called Bitcoin Gold has been attacked by 51% and caused the double spending of the 7,167 BTG of worth $72,000. The news of attack has not surprised the crypto community as it does not happen for the first time.
James Lovejoy, the president of the MIT Bitcoin Club, unveiled the fact that the blockchain network underlying Bitcoin Gold has been disrupted by a 51% attack on Jan.23. It also comes on the scene that two attacks come into action one by one within a period of two days.
The above-mentioned control of double-spending happens when the hash rate of the coin is being controlled. When a person has control over the 51% hashing power, he will be able to manipulate the transactions and can reverse them as a result.
It is also worth mentioning that these kinds of attacks, generally, target the coins with proof-of-network algorithm. The recent double-spending phenomenon carried out in two phases: first with 1,900 BTG ($19,400) and the second is with 5,267 BTG ($54,000).
Second Attack
The case is not surprising as it is on the record for the second time. The first case of 51% attack reported in 2018. That time, almost $18 million stolen as a result of 51% attack. Following the stolen cases, the network has adopted safety measures. But due to low capitalization value, the network becomes vulnerable to the 51% attacks.
As per report:
Based on Nicehash market price data for Zhash we estimate the cost of generating each reorg at around 0.2 BTC (~$1,700) and the attacker would have recouped around the same value in block rewards. Therefore, it is possible that the attacks were profitable if the double-spends succeeded at defrauding the attacker’s counterparty, or break-even if the double-spends were unsuccessful. This suggests that a confirmation requirement on the order of tens of blocks for BTG is still far too few to make the budget constraint to launch an attack significant.
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