Ravencoin Faces Critical Block Flaw, Potentially Erasing Days of Transactions

Ravencoin, a blockchain built from Bitcoin's code, is facing a critical block flaw that could allow invalid blocks to be added to the network.

The issue was first reported on August 7, when a bad block appeared at height 4,487,776 at 15:44 UTC. Since then, attackers have exploited this vulnerability, producing additional invalid blocks and potentially erasing completed payments from the blockchain record.

Ravencoin has since released a fix for the software flaw, but patching the issue does not undo what is already written to the blockchain. As a result, two major mining pools, 2Miners and RavenMiner, are rebuilding their version of the chain from just before the first bad block on August 7.

This move could erase several days' worth of transactions, leaving exchanges and users with missing payments. Several exchanges, including Bitvavo and South Korea's Upbit, have halted deposits and withdrawals as the network decides which version of recent history to accept.