A decentralized cryptocurrency is by definition
vulnerable to 51 percent attacks, the creator of Litecoin
(LTC) Charlie Lee stated in a tweet Jan. 7.
In the wake of recent news about unusual mining activity on the
Ethereum Classic (ETC) network — which many continue to refer to as a 51 percent
attack — Lee shared his observation, stating that:
“By definition, a decentralized cryptocurrency must be
susceptible to 51% attacks whether by hashrate, stake, and/or other
permissionlessly-acquirable resources. If a crypto can't be 51%
attacked, it is permissioned and centralized.”
Lee’s statement was in response to another tweet stating that “if it can’t be
51% attacked, it isn’t decentralized,” from Twitter user
CryptoTesla. The tweet was made in response to Coinbase's announcement revealing it had detected “chain
reorganizations” and double spends on ETC’s blockchain yesterday,
Jan. 7.
Today, Jan. 8, Coinbase updated the numbers to
report that there were 12
additional reorganizations that included double spends totaling
219,500 ETC (about $1.1 million).
Coinbase announced they had suspend deposits and
withdrawals of ETC on Jan. 5, with the freeze evidently still in
place by press time.
On Jan. 7, ETC developers denied the reports that the
hashpower consolidation was in fact a 51 percent attack, stating
that it was “most likely selfish mining” and that double spends did
not take place.
Later, the ETC team stated in a tweet that the
increased hashrate might be attributed to the testing of new
1,400/Mh Ethash machines by application-specific integrated circuit
(ASIC) manufacturer Linzhi. However, Linzhi Shenzhen's director of
operations denied these claims in a tweet that has since been
deleted.
By press time, the ETC team has refrained from
applying the term “51% attack” to the incident. One of their most
recent tweets on the issue from today repeats a request to all crypto
exchanges and mining pools to significantly increase confirmation
time on all withdrawals and deposits.