Ravencoin hits record low as network exploit puts transactions at risk

Mining pools controlling most of Ravencoin’s hash rate are building a competing chain that could trigger a three-day reorganization.

Market impact

Ravencoin dropped to a new all-time low on Wednesday as an exploited consensus vulnerability left several days of transactions at risk and prompted exchanges to suspend RVN transfers.

According to CoinGecko, the cryptocurrency dropped to $0.002754, about 22% below its 24-hour high of $0.003529. Trading volume climbed above $18 million during the sell-off before easing to about $9.6 million, while RVN recovered to around $0.00284 at the time of writing.

Exploit details

On Tuesday, Ravencoin said the exploit caused vulnerable nodes to accept invalid blocks, with the first known instance appearing at height 4,487,776 on Friday. Similar invalid blocks appeared after the flaw was demonstrated on the mainnet, it added.

Mining pools 2Miners and RavenMiner, which Ravencoin said control a majority of the network’s hash rate, are building a competing chain that excludes the exploited branch from that block onward. If the miners’ chain becomes dominant, the network could undergo a reorganization spanning approximately three days.

Ravencoin warned that transactions confirmed after block 4,487,775 could be reversed and may not automatically return to the mempool or be mined again.

Exchange response

The project recommended that exchanges halt deposits and withdrawals until the chain stabilizes. Upbit and Bitget suspended RVN transfers, although Upbit left trading available.