Privacy Coin, Firo (Zcoin) Reports Ongoing 51% Attack

The team behind the privacy-focused coin, Firo, (formerly known as Zcoin) revealed in an update today that the network is experiencing a 51% attack.

“We are under 51% attack at the moment. We recommend not to make transactions during this time until the network returns to a normal state. We will post updates when we have them. Note this is not a coding error but a nature of PoW,” the project said. 

A 51% attack is an inherent flaw of PoW blockchains, allowing for bad actors to try and take over the network by controlling a significant potion [51%] of the total computing power. When this happens, the group might not only be able to control confirmations of transactions, old transactions, or mining of new coins but they can reverse transactions that come in while they are in control of the network causing double spending of coins.

Firo urged users to hold on with any transaction they plan on making until the issue is solved. However, the company mentioned that they are currently working with exchanges and pools.

In making efforts to fix the problem, Firo also mentioned in the tweet that the network had contacted Chainlocks to resolve the issue, and they are working on a test version of the network. If the test is successful, they can now deploy or implement it on the main network (mainnet).

Whatever the case may be, this would undoubtedly take weeks, and Firo would have to look for a quick temporary solution to the problem while waiting for the test results.

The 51% attack on cryptocurrency networks is a common occurrence ongoing for years creating a need for all chains to provide a permanent solution to this type of attack.

Firo is undoubtedly not the first PoW blockchain to experience a 51% attack. In the past, for instance, Coinfomania has reported similar incidents on Ethereum Classic (ETC). 

The first attack was in 2019 when crypto exchange Gate.io revealed that an anonymous hacker returned $100,000 worth of Ethereum Classic (ETC) after a 51% attack on the network. Gate.io termed the hacker as a “white hacker” who wanted to show the importance of heightening hashing power security.

More than a year after that incident, Ethereum Classic experienced another 51% attack after a chain re-organization of 3693 blocks at block 10,904,146. Due to instability and various security attacks on the network, the KuCoin cryptocurrency exchange announced the coin’s delisting from the margin market.