There is plenty of controversy in the world of cryptocurrency. New coins and hard forks of existing currencies pose some security problems. In the case of Litecoin Cash, it seems the currency recently suffered from a 51% attack. This has become an ongoing trend across a few minor coins as of late.
Litecoin Cash Network Issues
Over the past two weeks, various cryptocurrencies have suffered from a 51% attack. This affected Bitcoin Gold, Verge, and now Litecoin Cash as well. It is becoming an incredibly worrisome trend which can’t be countered all that easy. It remains a bit unclear as to why this attack was even possible in the first place. Performing such an attack requires a lot of mining hardware and the desire to do harm.
So apparently @LitecoinFork was 51% attacked a few days ago. Add another victim to the list. I wonder who'll be next? #Playstupidgames #Winstupidprizeshttps://t.co/st3a0ARjpG pic.twitter.com/xPOv4Rs0lf
— ecurrencyhodler (@ecurrencyhodler) June 6, 2018
In the case of Litecoin Cash (LCC), the developers confirmed the attack. The number of required network confirmations increased to at least 100 after developers contacted exchanges. All other currencies suffering from a 51% attack took similar measures. Even so, it would be better if issues like these never occurred in the first place.
Thankfully, it seems Litecoin Cash will not face long-term harm. The team is working on protecting against major hashrate spikes. Such an endeavor is often easier said than done. A hard fork of the code appears imminent due to network protection features. Developers have not confirmed a hard fork yet, but it is a definite possibility. The new codebase is ready to go and will include some key features as originally planned.
This is another example of how a spin-off of existing cryptocurrencies is never a guarantee of success. The developers of Litecoin Cash learned a valuable lesson the hard way. Even so, avoiding a 51% attack from day one should have been the priority. For some unknown reason, insufficient countermeasures were in place in this regard. The community can only hope history will not repeat itself.
Do you think the developers of LCC should have done more to protect against a 51% attack? Let us know in the comments below.
Header image courtesy of Twitter/@currencyhodler and Shutterstock.