Ethereum Classic has suffered another 51 percent attack this morning, resulting in the reorganization of over 4,000 blocks.
The attacker can reorganize the chains on a decentralized network when they gain over 51 percent of the total Hash Rate . This can result in rewriting the chain history or even double-spending.
The recent attack on the network was revealed by mining pool operator, Bitfly, and crypto exchange, Binance, the first has halted all Ethereum Classic payouts for mining, while the exchange has suspended ETC withdrawals and deposits.
A new chain reorg of 4,000+ blocks has occurred on @eth_classic $ETC at block 10935622.
Our alert system caught this immediately and automatically halted withdrawals and deposits. It appears to be a follow up 51% attack. We will update you as things unfold. — Binance (@binance) August 6, 2020
The developers of the cryptocurrency also urged the community to raise the confirmation time of any transaction involving Ethereum Classic following the attack.
In light of recent network attacks, it's recommended that all exchanges, mining pools, and other ETC service providers significantly raise confirmation times on all deposits and incoming transactions. @okex @binance @HuobiGlobal @hitbtc @coinbase @digifinex @etherchain_org
— Ethereum Classic (@eth_classic) August 6, 2020
The reorganized blocks have become the longest chain on the network, and the miners are now mining the other shorter version. Hash rate on the Ethereum Classic network has also dropped by around 20 percent since the beginning of the week.
A Vulnerable Blockchain
Notably, the fresh attack followed similar attacks on the Etheruem Classic blockchain between July 29 and August 1.
An analysis published on Wednesday by blockchain intelligence firm Bitquery detailed that the attacker paid around 17.5 BTC to gain 51 percent hash rate of the blockchain and double-spent over 800,000 ETC, valued around $5.6 million.
The details of this morning’s attack, however, is not yet known, meaning it is unclear how much the attacker spent and how many cryptos were double-spent. However, the attacker might have received $93,760 from blockchain mining rewards alone, given the $23.44 per block reward for Ethereum Classic mining.
Despite the attacks, the market value of the cryptocurrency did not take a hit as it is being traded sideways without any significant swing.
