On Oct. 13, ethical hacker “Geocold” followed through on his promise to 51 percent attack an altcoin. He eventually settled on Bitcoin Private (BTCP), and quickly gained majority hashrate control, but the spectacle was fraught with setbacks, including censorship from two streaming services that pulled the plug.
Also read: Mischief-Maker Promises to Livestream a 51% Altcoin Attack
Censorship, Denial of Service and Revenge Attacks – and That Was Just for Starters
Geocold promised he would 51 percent attack an altcoin to prove how easy it was, and he did, but the attempt did not run as smoothly as he might have hoped. Over 750 viewers were tuned in, and the likes of Jackson Palmer live-tweeting the spectacle, when Twitch suddenly pulled the plug. Cam-whores and other performance artists can broadcast their ‘art’ to the masses, it would appear, but 51-percenting altcoins is a step too far.
One of the unexpected lessons derived from Geocold’s session was on the dangers of censorship on an internet when a ‘Report’ button is never more than a few pixels away. Despite the ethical hacker having no intention of attempting to double spend coins, such as by depositing them into an exchange wallet and swapping them for BTC, the streaming provider pulled the plug, presumably in response to members of the Bitcoin Private community reporting his channel. “Anyone own/work for a streaming platform and can ensure report spamming doesn’t work for my stream?” he asked Twitter. “If I find such a solution I’ll stream again. If not I might do a surprise stream. If not I’ll just post a video.”
I have to say, it is very interesting to be sitting around on a Saturday afternoon watching someone
