Monero Faces Attack as Qubic Gains Majority Network Power

Monero Faces Attack as Qubic Threatens Complete Network Takeover

Monero Faces Attack: Monero XMR, one of the most popular privacy-focused cryptocurrencies, is facing a serious security threat. According to Charles Guillemet, CTO of Ledger wallet, the network is already under an ongoing successful 51% attack that is led by the Qubic mining pool.

As Guillemet shared on X, Qubic has been quietly accumulating its hashrate for months. Now it dominates nearly all of its mining power, which also means it has the power to overwrite the blockchain, validate or reject transactions, and even mount double-spending Takeovers.

It came at a steep price- analysts estimate that maintaining such control costs approximately $75 million per day.

Source: X

Wu Blockchain also reported about Monero Faces Attack that, according to SlowMist founder, Qubic now controls most of Monero’s network hashrate, and a major chain reorganization has been detected. With this level of control, Qubic can alter blockchain history, carry out double-spending Takeovers, and block transactions. 

Source: WuBlockchain

Monero Faces Attack: How the Takeovers Was Caught?

Blockchain security company SlowMist suspected that a big chain reorganization occurred, which means an abnormal level of network control. They spotted an unknown mining pool's 6-block deep reorganization. 

Source: X

Curiously, public mining stats reveal no pool with over 50% of Monero's hashrate, which means this may be a concealed hashrate Overtake or an unintentional mining race.

SlowMist has recommended that users wait for additional block confirmations prior to finalizing any transactions to minimize the risk of loss.

Monero Faces Attack: A Smaller Blockchain Taking Over a Bigger One- What does this sign?

What is interesting about this the difference in size between the two players. Qubic is an independent project that is #222 on CoinMarketCap and has a market cap of just  $300 million. however, is within the top 30 cryptocurrencies with a market cap of around $4.56 billion.

Source: CoinMarketCap

"Essentially, a $300 million chain is assuming a $6 billion one," Guillemet said, referring to it as alarming and rare in the world of crypto.

The reason behind the Monero Faces Attack is still unidentified. Some of them think that Qubic would want to completely dominate Moneros network while others suspect it's to destroy trust in the privacy coin. In case the Overtake persists, other miners would cease to act, and only Qubic would be left acting as the only miner imparting upon it complete dominance over Monero's blockchain.

Currently, This currency is at $246.31, losing 8.9% within the last 24 hours. XMRs price has declined more than 13% since the news hit the headlines, indicating that investor confidence has been shaken.

Monero Faces Attack: Impact on the Crypto Market

A successful 51% overtake on a top cryptocurrency is a serious warning sign for the larger crypto universe. Smaller coins have been hit by such attacks before, but this one demonstrates that even billion-dollar-sized networks can't resist if sufficient hashing power can be accumulated.

If Qubic's control persists, it may harm faith in proof-of-work blockchains, particularly small mining communities. It's also a reminder that the security of the blockchain is never certain, regardless of how well-rooted the project is.

Monero Faces Attack: Final Thought

Guillemet cautions that Monero's recovery avenues are scarce. Without miners' and developers' concerted and robust effort, the network faces lasting credibility loss. If Qubic does gain complete control, it might lose its status as the world's top privacy coin, possibly driving privacy-driven users towards other blockchain ventures.