Double spend transactions-BTG- Confirmed

[Steamtyme]

So I have always heard the theory behind a 51% attack and how improbable it would be these days with BTC. However since I've been dabbling in mining some smaller lesser known coins I've seen the ease with which some of them could fall prey to an attack.

This is is a confirmed link detailing how a malicious attack has been taking place affecting exchanges on the BTG Network.

https://forum.bitcoingold.org/t/double-spend-attack-on-exchanges/1362/21

It appears that the only victims in the end are the exchanges themselves, but just because it doesn't affect your pocketbook at the moment doesn't mean it won't in the future when they raise fees.

Currently it appears they are trying to combat this by raising their confirmation requirements. If it keeps up you may see them go as high as 100.

If anyone knows more about this, feel free to drop some knowledge bombs.

[bbc.reporter]

Bitcoin gold, a cryptocoin of less value and a very small hashrate is more predisposed to a 51% attack because it is cheaper to do it, and it does not matter to the attacker if the coin dies.

In bitcoin, game theory applies more because the miner or group of miners planning to attack it have to assess which would be more beneficial to itself, the coin and the whole ecosystem because the costs are very high and those costs might be more than the reward.

[Steamtyme]

Yeah I really don't expect an attack on the bitcoin network.

It was just something I've been seeing as more likely to happen in some of the smaller altcoin markets. Like you said where the cost benefit favors a malicious attack if they can dump the ill gotten gains before the word gets out and it negatively impacts the cost of the coin.

This seems to be a potential problem for any coin with a relatively small miner base that has been fairly widely adopted. There are a lot of people out there with a large enough hashrate they could and apparently do make targeted attacks when they see the benefit to do so. Maybe in the future, Bitcoin forks won't be adopted as readily on major exchanges due to issues such as this.

[bbc.reporter]

@Steamtyme. I reckon after the easy money in scam ICOs are gone the next low hanging fruit will be the altcoins with low hashrate. We have already seen the attacks start in Verge, Bitcoin Gold and Electroneum. There will be more coming.

[Steamtyme]

I had heard about something with electroneum, but don't really follow verge.

It doesn't surprise me to see this happening, given the opportunity someone with the means to rip an entity off will do so. Evidenced like you say by all the scam ICO's.

Unfortunately as of now there is nothing that can be done about a 51% attack that I am aware of; not that I'm an expert in these things.

[bbc.reporter]

Verge was attacked twice and it was the worst because their development team has said that they have already fixed the problems after the first attack, but hackers used the same timing attack again to get a bigger payday.