Major DDoS Attacks Hit Bitcoin.com

Large scale DDoS attacks on Bitcoin.com and its subdomains started a few days ago and have heightened over the past 48 hours, in an apparent attempt at targeting the “big block” side of the ongoing disagreement within the Bitcoin community on how to scale Bitcoin.

Also Read: Antpool Points 75% Hashpower at BU, While Exchanges Confirm Listing a Split

Truth Under Attack

When Bitcoin.com re-launched the updated site in 2015, it was smack in the middle of the Bitcoin block size debate, which has also been called by many the Bitcoin “civil war”. It’s no secret that during this time, Bitcoin.com has positioned itself as a proponent for on-chain scaling solutions, as envisioned by Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

Since then, Bitcoin.com has worked with industry experts and leaders in the space to deliver news, uncensored information, and tools to the Bitcoin community. Most recently, Bitcoin.com has opened the Bitcoin.com Mining Pool, which mines using the Bitcoin client Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) and pays 110% block reward and has zero fees.

Due to this, Bitcoin.com has been the target of individuals and groups that don’t share the same vision. And this week, the site along with the new mining pool and uncensored forum have all been targeted by attackers in attempts to bring down the site and stop the flow of uncensored information.

All of https://t.co/UtJJm85D5m and its subdomains have been under DDOS attack for several days. Beware of those who would try to censor you. — Bitcoin News (@BTCTN) March 18, 2017

Censorship in and of itself has been a huge point of contention within the Bitcoin community, which has had a real and lasting impact to the block size debate in many ways.

Due to the heavy DDoS on Bitcoin.com domain and subdomains, the forum and mining pool all have had intermittent up-time. Bitcoin.com has also been working with Cloudflare to help mitigate the issues but some users may still be experiencing problems.

Suspicious Timing

It’s also worth noting that the attacks have come at the same time as when the news was released that some Bitcoin exchanges unveiled a hard fork contingency plan. The signed statement has come under a lot of scrutiny because at least two of the exchange signers, Kraken and Shapeshift, said the document they signed was not the same as what they were originally shown. Also missing from the signed statement are several of the biggest exchanges on the market, Coinbase, Gemini, Localbitcoins, among several others.

The significance of the timing of these two events can’t be overlooked, as the signed statement clearly has been lauded by the same groups who don’t hold the same values and vision as on-chain scaling proponents in attempt to further smear on-chain scaling. In addition, there have been other subversive attempts at attacking the Bitcoin network in recent times, which has left many scratching their heads just who is behind these sorts of attacks.

https://t.co/6EeRmpwLyF has been DDOSed all week. TIL from my CTO that many BU nodes identify themselves as CORE to avoid being DDOSed too. — Roger Ver (@rogerkver) March 18, 2017

We’ve also learned that many BU nodes have had to resort to identifying their nodes as Core because they are being DDoS’d also, as described by Roger Ver in a tweet sent today.

What are your thoughts on the recent attacks on the Bitcoin network and on-chain scaling proponents? Let us know in the comments below!

Image courtesy of Bitcoin.com

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