Bitcoin Cash Network fell victim to 51% attack by two mining pools

• Popular mining pools, BTC.COM and BTC.TOP, were found to be the key perpetrators of the attack.
• It was discovered that BTC.TOP gained 53 percent of Bitcoin Cash hash rate in a span of twelve hours.

A 51 percent attack was carried out by two popular miners BTC.COM and BTC.TOP on the Bitcoin Cash(BCH) network. An unknown bug is believed to be the responsible for allowing the attack.

It is believed that the attack was executed during a BCH network upgrade (hard fork) which could have possibly allowed attackers to funnel P2SH coins that can be sent to any address. These coins were earlier protected by a protocol rule called CLEANSTACK. However, a bug during the hard fork may have allowed attackers to mount an attack.

A 51 percent attack is an attack made on a blockchain network which compromises the network’s hash rate or computing power. This enables attackers to stop new transactions and can exploit a technique known as ‘double-spending.’

Worth noting

• In a series of tweets, Guy Swann of The Cryptoconomy Podcast spoke on this 51 percent attack which involved BCH.
• Swann suggested that the miners BTC.COM and BTC.TOP exploited an unspecified bug during a hard fork of BCH, which occurred around May 15.
• Another unknown miner was also involved in this incident who attempted to spend coins belonging to users.
• Furthermore, the miners were also believed to be communicating with each other as the attack happened.

BTC.TOP peaks at 53 percent

It was also found that BTC.TOP had a BCH hash rate of 53.7 at the same time the attack was carried out. “BTC top, a single mining pool in China achieved the dreaded impossibility by gaining more than 50 percent of Bitcoin Cash’s hashrate just within the past twelve hours,” BitcoinExchangeGuide.com reported.

“BTC top gained control of more than 53 percent of Bitcoin Cash hashrate, a very sufficient number to launch an attack capable of double spending hundreds of millions of coins,” the report further added.