Cryptocurrency Verge has suffered what executives are claiming is a DDoS attack. The platform is experiencing a serious delay in its blockchain, which has led to security concerns amongst users and worries about the currency’s stability.
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At press time, Verge is trading for roughly $0.052, and its market cap value sits at $785 million. A decrease in the currency’s price has occurred over the last hour, docking Verge down by 0.36 percent, while the coin has fallen by nearly 7 percent over the last 24 hours. Currently, Verge is the world’s 31st largest cryptocurrency per CoinMarketCap.com.
Verge first mentioned the attack in a Twitter[2] post, explaining:
“It appears some mining pools are under DDoS attack, and we are experiencing a delay in our blocks. We are working to resolve this.”
The problem may be more serious than the company is implying, however. The attack lasted more than a few hours and has resulted in over 35 million XVGs (worth approximately $1.7 million) being stolen.
The theft occurred when hackers exploited a specific glitch in Verge’s technology by mining multiple blocks virtually one second apart[3] using the same algorithm. This was the same tactic used in a hack just last month that saw over 250,000 XVGs disappear into thin air, forcing Verge to prepare a subsequent hard fork[4].
Reddit user ocminer was the first to notice both attacks. The user commented that Verge’s system had not been properly repaired since April, and that “since nothing really was done about the previous attacks (only a band-aid), the attackers now simply use two [algorithms] to fork the chain for their own use and are gaining millions.”
At the time of writing, it is unclear if the hack is still underway or
