02 Oct 2018 Josphat Kariuki
Attacker Prints Over 230 mil Pigeoncoins by Exploiting Bitcoin Bug
While the bug was attached to Bitcoin, other digital currencies that used Bitcoin’s public code are at risk if they haven’t revised their code. When exploited, the bug grants the attacker the ability to create as many coins as they want, exceeding even the hard-coded supply limitation of cryptocurrencies. That results in a decrease in the value of the coins that investors hold.
Though Pigeoncoin is not a big player in the cryptocurrency industry, it’s set apart by a unique X16r mining algorithm. And while it’s not even among the top 1000 cryptocurrencies on the market, the attack may be impactful in ending abusive data collection while using blockchain technology.
Though a lesser-known digital coin compared to other cryptocurrencies, Pigeoncoin has a supply of about 970 million coins. The attacker printed a quarter of all publicly traded coins and prompted CryptoBridge – the only exchange trading Pingeoncoins – to set a task for its developers to release a fix.
After the attack was detected, Pingeoncoin developers were quick to release a fix that borrows from the latest code released a few weeks ago by the Bitcoin developers. According to the notes related to the fix, exchanges and pools need to immediately upgrade their code to fix the double-spend exploit patched on Bitcoin’s source code.
While crypto enthusiasts may care less about the little-known digital coin, the attack has a significant impact on the entire cryptocurrency world. According to Scott Roberts, a Crypto developer, this attack shows the vulnerability of digital coins.
Following the fixing of the bug, observers are waiting to see the attacker’s next move. Many are still wondering whether he will receive the gains in fiat after trading in the gains. To do that, the attacker will most likely convert the Pigeoncoins to another digital token that’s widely acceptable.
According to Michael Oates, a Pigeoncoin developer, it’s unlikely that the market will experience a dump in the next few days since it would be stupid for the attacker to move all the funds at once. There are also concerns about whether other cryptocurrencies may have been attacked as a result of cloning Bitcoin’s code. However, many cryptocurrencies like Litecoin and Bitcoin gold have already upgraded their code, so there may be no further attacks on other coins.
Bitcoin Cryptocurrency crypto digital Blockchain technology
