Ravencoin transaction rollback risk sends RVN to reported record low
An exploited Ravencoin flaw put recent transfers at risk of reversal as miners built a replacement chain and exchanges restricted RVN movement.
By Sofia Marchetti · Columnist
· 3 min read
A potential Ravencoin transaction rollback has put recent RVN transfers in doubt after the project said an exploited consensus flaw allowed invalid blocks onto its network. For holders and anyone moving RVN, the immediate issue is settlement: a payment or exchange transfer that appeared confirmed could be reversed if a replacement chain wins broad miner support.
Ravencoin said in an Aug. 10 network notice that the first known invalid block was recorded at height 4,487,776 at 15:44:01 UTC on Aug. 7. The project said vulnerable nodes accepted the invalid blocks, and that further such blocks appeared after the vulnerability was demonstrated on the live network.
RVN also fell sharply during the disruption. Cointelegraph, citing CoinGecko data, reported that the token touched $0.002754, a reported all-time low and 22% below its 24-hour high of $0.003529. The report said volume exceeded $18 million during the sell-off before easing to roughly $9.6 million, while RVN later traded near $0.00284. Those figures were snapshots at the time of reporting, rather than a measure of the network's ultimate recovery.
Which Ravencoin transactions are at risk?
Ravencoin says transactions confirmed after block 4,487,775 should be treated as at risk. The project warned that affected deposits, withdrawals and payments could be reversed if the competing chain becomes the accepted version of the ledger.
A blockchain is a shared record of transactions built in batches called blocks. Ravencoin uses miners, and the chain supported by the most computing power, known as hash rate, is generally treated by the network as valid. The project said mining pools 2Miners and RavenMiner control a majority of Ravencoin's hash rate and are mining a chain that excludes the exploited branch beginning at block 4,487,776.
If that replacement chain became dominant, the reorganization could span approximately three days, according to Ravencoin. A chain reorganization replaces a portion of the transaction record with another version. This has not been presented as a completed rollback: Ravencoin said its notice was not an endorsement of any particular recovery plan or chain selection.
The practical risk is that a transfer erased from the ultimately accepted chain may not automatically return to the mempool, the network's queue of pending transactions, or be mined again. Ravencoin said exchanges should not assume reversed deposits or withdrawals will automatically reappear or reconfirm.
Why are exchanges restricting RVN transfers?
Ravencoin recommended that exchanges temporarily suspend RVN deposits and withdrawals until the chain state stabilizes. Cointelegraph reported that Upbit and Bitget suspended RVN transfers, while Upbit kept trading available. CoinDesk separately reported that Bitvavo suspended deposits and withdrawals and that Upbit stopped deposits. Those exchange actions were reported by the outlets and were not independently verified here.
For users, a suspended deposit or withdrawal is intended to prevent an exchange from crediting coins based on a transaction that could later disappear from the accepted chain. Ravencoin advised users not to rely on recent confirmations until the network stabilizes.
CoinDesk reported that Ravencoin released a software fix, but a patch does not itself remove blocks already recorded. The key outstanding question is whether the miners' replacement chain gains sufficient support to become dominant.
This story draws on original reporting from Cointelegraph Markets.
