Slashdot Mirror
More Bitcoin Exchanges Forced Out of Sync After Massive DDoS Attack
An anonymous reader tipped us to news that several Bitcoin exchanges have joined Mt Gox in suspending withdrawals after being forced out of sync with the Bitcoin network at large. After Mt Gox blamed transaction malleability for forcing them to suspend withdrawals, miscreants started flooding at least Bitpay and Btc-e with bogus transactions. Quoting the Bitcoin Foundation: "Somebody (or several somebodies) is taking advantage of the transaction malleability issue and relaying mutated versions of transactions. This is exposing bugs in both the reference implementation and some exchange’s software. We (core dev team, developers at the exchanges, and even big mining pools) are creating workarounds and fixes right now. This is a denial-of-service attack; whoever is doing this is not stealing coins, but is succeeding in preventing some transactions from confirming. It’s important to note that DoS attacks do not affect people’s bitcoin wallets or funds. "
It’s important to note that DoS attacks do not affect people’s bitcoin wallets or funds.
Unless of course the exchange rates start dropping because of a declining confidence in the currency.
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
Interestingly enough, this potentially benefits legitimate BTC speculators.
We see what's going on. We know that BTC is under attack, and we know it's going to drop, and we suspect it's going to rebound. Time for tech-savvy legitimate investors to make a few gambles as well -- if you're the type that's already gambling on BTC.
One of the things about BTC is that, since it's unregulated, you can't just freeze the exchange rate until the storm blows over. Anarchy!