Over two years after its ignominious debut as a Bitcoin fork, Bitcoin Gold (BTG) has now been the victim of two new 51% attacks, according to breaking reports from Cointelegraph and elsewhere.
Today writer Jack Martin chronicles the alleged removal of 14 blocks from the BTG blockchain January 23, and the addition of 13 new ones, along with the removal of 15 blocks January 24.
For those who don’t know, a 51% happens when a party controls the majority of a blockchain and is then able to institute their own transactions to override the natural consensus-based tracks. It’s easier in smaller blockchain systems.
Double-spending of $70,000 of Bitcoin Gold, Martin says, constitute worrying unauthorized pivots for investors who are still holding onto the digital asset.
Although Bitcoin Gold had deflated massively following the hard fork, with prices crested at nearly $500 and a late 2019 value around nine dollars, BTG had reached values of over $15 mid-January where the asset price now rests around $12.
The new 51% attacks are concerning for their potential to put more downward pressure on values.
“Wow how such coin has any value is beyond me,” writes Alone-Dish. “This has been attacked two times, it is clearly not censorship resistant at all. It should ideally have no value whatsoever.”
“Why not just … use centralized trusted databases to manage a security so it’s easier to operate in a regulated environment?” asks type1020, criticizing the existing Proof-of-Work system undergirding BTG. “You are either a synthetic commodity or you are pretending to be one. Proof of work is by design a synthetic commodity. Proof of stake is by design a security (which can play fast and loose with securities laws due to it’s distributed nature). The SEC has been pretty clear about all this and has forced companies to comply or face penalties.”
Bottom line – if you’re holding BTG – look out!
