14 Feb 2014 / Business Insider – One of the bedrock arguments of Bitcoin evangelists is that whatever potential for misuse by Bitcoin itself, a widespread attack on Bitcoin services was not possible.
Today, that tenet no longer holds true.
Bitcoin wallets across the globe came under assault today, resulting in another mini-flash price crash one day after a statement from the MtGox exchange caused prices to fall 20%.
Yet almost without exception, the Bitcoin community is refusing to view the incident as anything other than a buying opportunity.
Here’s the two-sentence version of what happened this afternoon: An unknown entity caused Bitcoin wallets at many exchanges, including the two largest USD-traded ones, to start misinterpreting transactions. The exchanges say no customers lost any money, but the exchanges have had to temporarily shut down withdrawals to correct the issue.
MtGox’s recent issues may have been rooted in a similar attack, though some believe their problems may be more profound.
Whatever the case, Bitcoin fundamentalists remain undeterred. One of the first to spot and summarize the problems on MtGox was Max Hampel, a German physics student living in Austria who runs the blog Coinwatch. He says he is not worried, and simply sees it as a buying opportunity….. Read more
