UPDATED 21:13 EDT / NOVEMBER 21 2018

BLOCKCHAIN

As crypto circus plays on, both forked versions of Bitcoin Cash run into problems

Just when the damaging infighting between rival Bitcoin Cash factions couldn’t get any worse, both forked versions of the bitcoin spinoff have suffered from various technical issues.

The first act in what is starting to appear like a poorly planned out circus came from Bitcoin Cash SV, now regularly abbreviated to BSV. That’s the fork supported by Craig Wright, who argues Bitcoin Cash should be used solely as a form of stable global money with a set block size of 128 megabytes.

Described as a “block reorganization” by Coindesk, the issue occurred when a stress testing group intentionally flooded the BSV blockchain in an effort to “showcase the Bitcoin [Cash] network capacity.”

Instead of being a successful test, however, the 24 million transactions that flooded the BSV instead caused a “mini-fork.” That is, BSV, itself a fork of Bitcoin Cash, temporarily split into two separate currencies. That was the result of the computers processing the transactions falling out of sync and hence creating two separate versions of the BSV blockchain.

Although the problem is now rectified, it’s not a good look for supporters of BSV when a stress test breaks the cryptocurrency, even if only temporarily.

The second act comes from rival Bitcoin Cash ABC, which is now simply being referred to as Bitcoin Cash, complete with the BCH ticker provided by the likes of the digital currency exchange Coinbase Inc. Bitcoin Cash ABC has suffered from a security vulnerability that may have allowed it to be targeted by an attack from rogue miners.

According to TNW, the vulnerability was introduced after ABC, via a software update, switched from a traditional Proof-of-Work algorithm used to validate blocks to a new “checkpoints” system used by miners to ensure they are working with the most valid blockchain.

In short, the change could allow a miner could take control of the ABC blockchain and possibly even force a hard fork, that is, create — yes — yet another new cryptocurrency.

“Estimates now suggest that for as little as $27,000, attackers can effectively control ABC armed with nothing but a standard, retail cryptocurrency miner,” the report noted.

Despite the chaos the ongoing dispute over Bitcoin Cash has had on the broader cryptocurrency market, the price of bitcoin stabilized Wednesday, trading at $4,566.91 as of 9 p.m. EST, up 4.3 percent for the day.

Photo: Pixabay

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