Ethereum Classic was attacked by 51% - for the second time this week! The network of this project turned out to be extremely fragile, yet the price of the ETC cryptocurrency itself did not suffer, and even increased by 1.24% during the day - why?
Ethereum Classic and another 51% attack
After two major blockchain reorganisations, the network saw a sharp drop in hash speed in just one week, and this makes the risk of further attacks even greater. According to data provided by Crypto51, the estimated cost of carrying out such an action is currently USD 4,030.
Despite such a strong threat, the price of the cryptocurrency belonging to Ethereum Classic itself did not experience a sharp drop. Surprisingly, it even increased by 1.24% in the daily range.
In all this, the increase in turnover raises suspicions, despite such a serious defect. It is worth paying attention, for example to the fact that on many cryptocurrency platforms, withdrawals of deposits in ETC have been suspended. Here a question arises: who is generating this volume? After all, the Ethereum Classic developers themselves announced yesterday that in light of the recent attacks on the network, it is recommended that all exchanges, mining pools, and other ETC-related service providers extend confirmation times for all deposits and inbound transactions.
What is a 51% attack?
Simply put, it can happen when a certain person or an organized group of people gains an advantage in terms of hash power over other miners of a given cryptocurrency. The attackers can then lead to a double spend of the virtual coin - in this case it was the ETC.
It should be recalled that the most recent attack took place shortly after the one carried out between July 29 and August 1 of this year. Of course, it was initially argued that the network had not suffered at all. Later, however, information appeared that the attacker managed to spend more than 800,000 ETC (approximately $ 5.6 million) twice. The cost he incurred to get there was approximately 17.5 BTC ($ 204,000). The value of yesterday's attack has not yet been estimated.
This is not the first time such a situation has occurred in the Ethereum Classic network. In previous years, this blockchain has been the victim of serious reorganization attacks several times.
