In brief
The past 200 days worth of $XVG transaction history just vanished.
This is likely the deepest reorg that has ever taken place in a "top 100" cryptocurrency. https://t.co/ItFNBVZqbp
— Lucas Nuzzi (@LucasNuzzi) February 15, 2021
$94,892.00
0.11%$1,804.95
0.12%$2.24
-1.96%$603.10
-0.62%$147.55
-0.02%$0.999925
0.00%$0.175961
-1.91%$0.701301
-0.41%$0.243916
-1.54%$1,803.62
0.13%$94,734.00
0.12%$3.54
-0.24%$14.70
-2.54%$21.87
0.05%$0.280343
-0.54%$9.02
0.30%$3.22
-2.02%$0.18812
-0.72%$0.00001344
-2.48%$0.999895
-0.01%$2,163.49
0.13%$361.35
-1.39%$85.98
-0.64%$4.16
-2.85%$18.51
-0.67%$0.999785
-0.01%$4.40
-0.63%$1,803.31
0.19%$277.85
3.71%$0.999628
0.02%$29.14
-0.61%$0.586408
-3.67%$1,922.43
0.13%$94,960.00
0.29%$0.00000888
-0.51%$5.43
-2.77%$5.32
-2.18%$366.98
-4.53%$51.38
-1.36%$2.54
-0.80%$1.05
0.02%$0.940156
-4.26%$22.04
-1.14%$4.91
-3.78%$13.05
-9.37%$1.00
0.00%$16.80
-1.32%$165.48
-0.72%$31.16
0.27%$0.736305
-0.03%$0.090147
-0.48%$4.53
0.11%$0.02685331
-2.43%$0.087518
-9.18%$1.00
0.03%$1.17
0.05%$0.236631
-1.38%$0.229376
-1.03%$4.37
-2.42%$94,554.00
-0.04%$0.726697
0.68%$4.29
0.14%$2.75
-1.63%$0.317241
-5.68%$2.74
-6.70%$0.514766
-1.02%$0.328181
-2.33%$0.0000197
-1.31%$4.10
0.06%$0.998988
-0.18%$1.083
-6.23%$94,670.00
-0.06%$10.71
0.69%$0.457814
-3.78%$1,529.55
0.03%$0.816888
-4.18%$0.750398
-4.56%$0.078775
-3.90%$1.22
1.27%$154.60
-0.10%$0.01827226
0.66%$1.11
0.39%$75.49
-1.11%$4.05
-2.13%$1,803.86
0.08%$0.21111
-4.92%$0.572896
-2.37%$0.685607
-0.30%$1,878.01
0.25%$1.001
0.10%$9.63
-3.28%$0.097639
-2.02%$0.999528
-0.01%$603.58
-0.47%$0.999958
-0.01%$0.655065
1.49%$1.34
-9.45%$2,045.78
0.20%$2.83
-5.84%$3,311.86
-0.10%$0.00008373
-3.86%$94,024.00
0.92%$0.01650451
-2.66%$0.793195
-0.23%$1.00
0.03%$3,311.44
-0.18%$0.208266
-6.42%$38.09
-3.75%$94,887.00
0.24%$13.20
-0.31%$0.756132
-0.86%$162.67
-0.07%$0.827128
-2.20%$0.01669963
-4.87%$190.10
0.07%$93,737.00
-1.63%$3.97
-3.13%$0.293827
-3.00%$0.567332
-9.19%$0.00000071
-1.64%$0.01088435
-7.06%$1,921.32
0.26%$0.115663
-1.70%$0.997792
0.02%$3.10
-0.23%$2.03
-3.81%$0.402749
-1.58%$0.999903
0.07%$0.01839796
-2.22%$0.243894
-1.54%$0.061345
-4.87%$0.608896
-0.25%$18.13
-0.40%$1.12
1.00%$0.312744
-4.64%$1.80
-1.33%$0.556042
-0.99%$1,887.33
0.14%$0.154943
-3.05%$34.80
-2.60%$3.35
-0.51%$0.559925
-3.26%$0.00906966
-3.06%$0.619652
0.90%$0.999038
-0.03%$0.419835
3.84%$0.068866
0.62%$0.00531868
-1.38%$0.637675
-3.94%$95,658.00
-0.18%$94,821.00
0.11%$0.193752
-15.58%$17.15
-1.44%$0.999896
-0.00%$0.497288
-6.79%$1,887.71
0.13%$0.438748
-4.78%$1.35
-3.02%$0.999896
-0.00%$0.175719
-1.95%$1.60
-1.93%$6.72
-5.92%$0.00002201
-3.48%$6.14
-2.30%$94,568.00
-0.04%$0.532534
-5.10%$0.146432
-6.25%$110.87
0.01%$1,806.77
0.20%$0.081628
-0.20%$0.00000042
-1.37%$81,179.00
-12.32%$0.236852
-1.14%$1.085
-0.00%$1.001
-0.04%$3.69
-0.91%$2.50
-4.85%$0.087687
-2.80%$0.04121333
-3.48%$1,802.80
-0.07%$1,920.44
0.07%$0.406004
8.08%$0.00723403
-0.60%$41.43
-3.13%$1,805.46
0.09%$0.0369983
-3.55%$0.181142
5.96%$0.365755
-3.08%$21.66
-0.14%$0.00419575
1.81%$0.554883
-1.69%$1.41
1.83%$0.999166
-0.09%$31.79
6.68%$1,802.01
0.40%$0.13035
-0.66%$0.01761328
-2.11%$0.799372
-2.84%$0.00006063
-3.63%$1.00
-0.01%$0.731321
3.43%$1,837.64
-0.10%$1.00
0.09%$2.90
-2.25%$0.00465788
-4.07%$0.761308
3.40%$1.00
0.03%$0.999753
-0.02%$0.540618
11.57%$0.689068
-3.33%$94,738.00
0.07%$0.273105
-8.95%$3.69
-0.73%$113.05
-0.01%$0.238038
-3.68%$0.140273
-0.14%$0.00000142
-1.98%$1,791.17
0.16%$1.21
1.34%$0.207284
1.12%$23.13
-3.35%$0.999567
-0.03%$0.999033
-0.02%$3,296.07
-0.58%$0.00277217
2.53%$94,638.00
-0.06%$0.27432
-1.95%$18.56
-0.58%$0.00261788
3.79%$0.03155049
4.19%$1,804.59
0.04%$1,907.09
-0.01%$0.531227
-0.48%$2.81
-0.66%$0.0380771
0.85%$0.00296994
1.32%$0.25906
4.32%$15.69
-4.40%$0.110706
-1.32%$0.00343812
-2.89%$1,903.89
0.03%$0.01272331
-3.32%$21.87
0.11%$1.097
0.05%$0.930756
-4.15%$0.710852
-4.48%$0.089913
-14.55%$0.59202
-4.94%Reading
This morning, Antoine Le Calvez, a data engineer with blockchain research firm Coin Metrics, pointed out that something funny was happening over on the Verge (XVG) blockchain.
“Looks like $XVG (Verge) experienced a massive 560k+ blocks reorg,” he wrote. His colleague, Lucas Nuzzi, chimed in a few hours later: “The past 200 days worth of $XVG transaction history just vanished. This is likely the deepest reorg that has ever taken place in a 'top 100' cryptocurrency.”
The past 200 days worth of $XVG transaction history just vanished.
This is likely the deepest reorg that has ever taken place in a "top 100" cryptocurrency. https://t.co/ItFNBVZqbp
— Lucas Nuzzi (@LucasNuzzi) February 15, 2021
Indeed, Verge was a borderline top-100 cryptocurrency, with a market cap above $400 million, before it was seemingly victimized by a 51% attack. In a 51% attack, an often malicious actor gains control of a majority of the hash power on a blockchain; they can then use that power to “reorganize” the blockchain and replace legitimate blocks with their own and “double-spend” funds.
51% attacks can be hugely profitable on certain types of blockchains. Ethereum Classic experienced multiple 51% attacks last year. ETC Labs’ Terry Culver explained to Decrypt last October that “a combination of access to liquidity, a lot of exchange listings, and low hash rate” make a blockchain a good target for such attacks.
From July through August, Ethereum Classic suffered three 51% attacks that might have cost the attackers just $3,800 in rented hash power. So what did Ethereum Classic developers do? They made hash power more expensive. Ethereum Classic Labs CEO Terry Culver appeared on the Decrypt Daily podcast Monday to explain what ETC Labs and the ETC Core Development Team are calling MESS, or Modified Exponential Subjective Scoring. “Nodes aren't designed to distinguish between an attacker chain and an hon...
But Verge says that isn’t what happened here. A pinned message from an administrator in Verge’s Telegram channel reads:
“The official block explorer has been restarted and syncing now, the [database] was corrupted, and it looks like some malicious nodes attempted some [transaction] spam and failed at their goal of causing a fork, this is all the information I have currently, an official update will be coming soon, stay calm and be assured your coins are safe, and yes we will be communicating with the exchanges as soon as we have all the details, No there was not a 51% attack.”
Adult website Pornhub has been accepting Verge since since April 2018; in fact, it was the first cryptocurrency Pornhub embraced. That could be because XVG matched the website’s need for discretion; it was originally conceptualized in 2014 as a privacy-centric version of Dogecoin, called DogeCoinDark.
Turns out it’s a little too private. It made transactions disappear.
Nasdaq has applied to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a rule change that would allow the exchange to list shares of a 21Shares exchange-traded fund based on the price of Dogecoin, according to a filing Tuesday. The 21Shares Dogecoin ETF would track the popular meme coin’s price, mirroring spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs that gained approval last year, according to the 19b-4 document. 21Shares followed crypto asset managers Grayscale and Bitwise as Dogecoin ETF hopefuls, filing an...
El Salvador’s Bitcoin accumulation quietly persists under IMF watch. While President Nayib Bukele’s government formally paused its Bitcoin acquisitions by public sector entities to satisfy International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan conditions, the country's Bitcoin Office continues to quietly expand the country’s national reserves. In the past month, El Salvador added another 32 BTC worth more than $650,000, bringing its total holdings to 6,161.18 BTC valued at roughly $584 million, consistent with...
Privacy blockchain Monero (XMR) jumped 51% on Monday—and on-chain investigators pointed to hackers laundering $330 million in stolen Bitcoin as the likely culprit. Early on Monday, on-chain sleuth ZachXBT highlighted a “suspicious transfer” made from a “potential victim” of 3,520 BTC (worth approximately $333 million). Soon after, the funds were swapped to XMR via multiple exchanges. ZachXBT believes this was “theft” due to the high fees paid and the suspicious activity once the funds had been m...