Do repost and rate:
News that a double spend had occurred on the Bitcoin network on Jan. 21 set the media abuzz, with multiple people taking to social media to dispel the exaggerated conclusions drawn by some media outlets.
- Several outlets reported that a double spend of 0.00062 BTC had occurred at block height 666,833
- Bitcoin exponent and software developer Andreas M. Antonopoulos called the reports FUD, and that the incident was a block reorganization that occurs every two weeks on average
- A double spend is when a unit of BTC is spent twice, and is the primary concern of a 51% attack
- When a double spend occurs, it would result in new, duplicate BTC added to BTC’s supply, but this was not the case; instead, the block reorganization resulted in the transaction being recorded in two different blocks
- DAR Crypto co-founder Lucas Nuzzi explained the incident in more detail, saying that the user had simply made multiple attempts for a low fee transaction -- ultimately, only 1 of the 3 attempts is recognized by the blockchain
- The Bitcoin whitepaper has even accounted for this event, and specifically prevents a double spend occurring from such a transaction
