Bitcoin Could Have Been Attacked for Only $80,000

The bug in question was reportedly one of the most significant bugs in Bitcoin’s illustrious history and could have wreaked some serious havoc on the first and foremost cryptocurrency’s reputation as the ‘gold standard’ of digital currencies.

A very scary bug in Bitcoin Core has just been fixed which could have crashed a huge chunk of the Bitcoin network if exploited by any rogue miners. https://t.co/fMrgRiDaTP

— Cøbra (@CobraBitcoin) September 18, 2018

Core Vulnerability

The bug was not actually with Bitcoin’s protocol, however. As explained by Motherboard, it was actually a problem with the cryptocurrency’s software implementation — which means that Litecoin, Bitcoin’s little brother of sorts, also needed to implement a patch to squash the bug.

Reputation Saved

There are currently 9682 nodes running on the Bitcoin network, 9194 of which are Bitcoin Core nodes. Because the vulnerability was found in Bitcoin Core, the entire network could have experienced some serious issues. Sirer told Motherboard, however, that an attack utilizing the vulnerability would not have been catastrophic. Rather, it would have simply caused some rather unpleasant issues. More significantly, such an attack would have damaged Bitcoin’s virtually bulletproof reputation. What do you think about the vulnerability resolved in Bitcoin Core? Will Bitcoin ever suffer a devastating attack? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!