Ravencoin rollback risk puts recent RVN transactions in doubt
Ravencoin says an exploited flaw could reverse about three days of transactions if a replacement chain gains control.
By Dev Ramirez · Crypto Correspondent
· 3 min read
Ravencoin rollback risk is putting recent RVN transfers in doubt after the project said an exploited software flaw allowed invalid blocks onto its network. For holders and anyone moving RVN through an exchange, the immediate issue is whether a transaction confirmed after Aug. 7 will remain on the version of the blockchain ultimately accepted by miners.
In an Aug. 10 network notice, Ravencoin said a critical consensus vulnerability had been demonstrated and exploited. Consensus is the process by which a blockchain’s participants agree on the valid transaction record. The flaw let vulnerable nodes accept blocks that should not have passed validation, Ravencoin said.
The first known invalid block was number 4,487,776, recorded at 15:44:01 UTC on Aug. 7, according to the project’s notice.
Which Ravencoin transactions are at risk?
Ravencoin said transactions confirmed after block 4,487,775 should be treated as at risk. Two mining pools, 2Miners and RavenMiner, had announced they were mining an alternative chain that excludes the affected branch from that point onward, the project said.
A chain reorganization occurs when the network adopts a competing transaction history in place of the prior one. Ravencoin said a reorganization of about three days could occur if that alternative branch becomes dominant. It has not said that the rollback is complete.
If the replacement chain wins out, transfers recorded only on the discarded branch could disappear from the accepted ledger. Ravencoin said some affected transactions could return to the mempool, the waiting area for unconfirmed transactions, and be included again in a later block. That outcome is not guaranteed.
The practical risk extends beyond a wallet balance. A recipient, merchant, exchange or other service that treated a recent RVN payment as final could find that payment removed from the accepted chain. CoinDesk reported that an exchange could be exposed if it credited a deposit and allowed a customer to withdraw before the deposit was reversed.
Why are exchanges pausing RVN transfers?
Ravencoin advised exchanges to temporarily halt RVN deposits and withdrawals until the chain state is stable. CoinDesk reported that Bitvavo suspended both deposits and withdrawals as a precaution, while Upbit halted deposits and issued an investment warning across its won, bitcoin and tether markets.
The project said 2Miners and RavenMiner controlled a majority of Ravencoin’s hash rate, or the computing power used by miners to add blocks. Ravencoin said it asked the pools to choose a more recent recovery point that would reduce the amount of transaction history at risk, but that request was declined.
Ravencoin has released a fix, CoinDesk reported, although updating software does not by itself remove blocks already written to a competing chain. The project told users not to rely on recent confirmations while the network remains unsettled.
Ravencoin, launched in 2018 from Bitcoin’s code, is designed mainly to issue and transfer digital assets, according to CoinDesk. Reports described RVN as falling sharply during the disruption, but the available evidence does not establish a reliable basis for the widely reported exact percentage decline.
This story draws on original reporting from Decrypt.
