BitMEX Research has identified an alleged double-spend transaction of 0.00062063 BTC (about $ 21) at block 666,833. This was likely by accident.
The ForkMonitor BitMEX service reported on January 20 that “several blocks were created in Bitcoin at block height 666 833”, as a result of which one of the chains won, the rest of the blocks were lost. A double spend transaction occurred while undoing an “old” block. Given the insignificance of the amount, most likely it was accidental due to a technical “overlap” in some service.
BitMEX Research tweets:
“Today, at the height of Bitcoin block 666 833, there is a ‘stale block’: SlushPool beat F2Pool in the bounty race. It looks like there was a small double spend of about 0.00062063 BTC ($ 21). ”
An hour later, BitMEX Research classified the orphan block as a Replace-By-Fee (RBF) transaction, in which an unconfirmed transaction is replaced with a new transfer with a higher fee. However, ForkMonitor later updated the information: “No transactions using RBF were found.”
[Editor’s note: Orphan is a mined and confirmed block, not included in the main chain. Orphanes are created when two or more miners conditionally broadcast valid blocks to the network. Another name for such blocks is “stale blocks”].
Twitter user Eli Afram flagged “controversial messages” from BitMEX Research. He stated that the double-spend transaction should be a concern despite its low cost:
“It looks like a double spend transaction actually took place in Bitcoin. Not RBF, but actual double spending. Only $ 22 … but it could have been $ 22 million. ”
In July, ZenGo discovered a double spending vulnerability in some cryptocurrency wallets. Wallet manufacturers have taken steps to address the vulnerability. However, some researchers have warned that the vulnerability may be inherent in transactions with RBF.
