ambcrypto.com
Several hacks and frauds in the world of cryptocurrencies have forced many in the space to take countermeasures to safeguard the assets from malicious practices. The latest hack that targeted Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of volume, was another blow to the industry’s push towards mainstream adoption. The hack resulted in the loss of 7000 BTC, resulting in the hashtag #fundsarenotsafu going viral.
Post the hack, Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, stated that he was considering a reorg of the Bitcoin chain, which was later shelved due to the cons outweighing the pros. CZ, as he is more popularly called, was not the only one against the reorg. Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream shared the same opinion as well. Back tweeted,
“A Bitcoin reorg is just not happening, and I doubt any Bitcoin industry, miners nor developers considered it either. Recall 2014 $473mil, 2016 bitfinex hack $72mil, 2019 binance $40mil etc. #NotHappening”
It can be speculated that Back is also citing the cons listed out by CZ, cons that were extensively covered by the cryptoverse. CZ reasoned,
“cons: 1 we may damage credibility of BTC, 2 we may cause a split in both the bitcoin network and community. Both of these damages seems to out-weigh $40m revenge. 3 the hackers did demonstrate certain weak points in our design and user confusion, that was not obvious before.”
There were many inquiries on Back’s tweet too, with many asking about the steps that needed to be taken to make reorg more impossible. Back replied that “mining in some portion to holdings” is one method by which reorg can be stopped. The Bitcoin ecosystem was none too happy with Binance’s consideration of a reorg. This was evidenced by Twitter user @sighodl’s tweet,
“The sheer ignorance of the head of the biggest exchange when it comes to the tech and game theory of bitcoin is mind boggling.”