DGB Holders Beware: Following 300% Monthly Surge, DigiByte Is Open to 51% Attack (Analysis)

DigiByte caught the public’s attention in April as its price increased by as much as 300% throughout the month. However, a recent report indicates that an unknown entity has begun monopolizing two pools of DigiByte’s five consensus algorithms and that it could, theoretically, pull off a 51% attack on the network relatively easy.

DigiByte’s Reported Vulnerability

According to a detailed analysis posted on Reddit, an unknown entity is using superior mining hardware and is beginning to monopolize two pools of Digibyte’s mining algorithms: Skein and Qubit. The entity carries out the operations at a rate approximately three times higher than other miners.

Now, DigiByte is a network based on the Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm. It was launched back in 2013, and it, unlike a lot of the other cryptocurrencies, uses five different mining algorithms, including Scrypt, SHA256, Qubit, Skein, and Groestl. Supposedly, this would increase the decentralization component of the network, keeping it “in the hands of many.”

The analysis considers Charlie Lee’s comments on DigiByte’s “5-algo system” that outlines that it’s no more secure than Litecoin’s.

In conclusion, the report says that “all this entity has to do is rent a few hundred dollars worth of hash power on NiceHash to 51% the network at will.”

Ironically, a couple of days ago, Jared Tate, DigiByte’s co-founder, had reaffirmed the Foundation’s commitment to decentralization.

We must make sure #DigiByte stays truly decentralized long into the future. We must make sure no one gains an upper hand. Myself included. $DGB is a #blockchain of the people, for the people and by the people.

— Jared Tate ©? (@jaredctate) April 25, 2020

DigiByte’s Price Action

DigiByte has recently soared to the spotlight after its most recent market rally. The currency was up from $0.004 to $0.013 since the beginning of April. At the time of this writing, DGB is the 38th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

According to LunarCRUSH, Social Listening for crypto, increasing social media activity for DigiByte caused the rally as its community ranked first in LunarCRUSH’s “Altrank score” in terms of strong social volume. On April 21, the currency saw 5,815 bullish posts out of 6,406 total social posts.

The last 24 hours has seen a 24% decrease in price, possibly from the beginning of rumors on Reddit forums about the potential vulnerabilities inherent in the DigiByte five algorithm system.