A sad attack on the Bitcoin Testnet will create three years worth of blocks in a week

A tragic attack on the Bitcoin testnet recently spiked network activity, generating over 165,000 blocks in just one week, with three years worth of blocks being created.

Attacker Jameson Loup, co-founder and chief security officer of Kasa, publicly acknowledged the incident and faced backlash from other Bitcoin developers.

Loop prevents the attack as a ‘simple exploit'

Speaking on decentralized social media platform Nostr, Loup described the attack as a “simple exploit” requiring only 20 lines of code. When asked if the grieving attack justified the results, Loup replied that he only wasted $1 worth of electricity.

Lopp argued that his intention was not without malice, but to draw attention to an issue he had already raised. He emphasized that conventional methods such as development delivery lists could not adequately address the weaknesses identified.

“People may see me as a ‘bad guy', but I'm the first to lean into this weakness,” I'm supporting a cause, and sometimes you have to do more than just send an email to get people's attention. He added.

The attack involves flooding the testnet with excessive transactions, spamming the network, and dramatically increasing the workload. As a result, the network's difficulty has increased, resulting in over 165,000 blocks being created.

According to mempool.space data, hash speed and difficulty spiked to a peak of 2,315 TH/s on April 19 before returning to normal levels around 86 TH/s the day after the attack.

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Loop described the tragedy online as a “free stress test,” prompting further reactions from the crypto community. He advocated restarting Bitcoin's testnet, which is currently lagging behind, to address “time crunch” vulnerabilities and restore mining rewards.

I'll publish an essay with full details next weekend, but it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who read my email to the development mailing list several weeks ago.

I recommend viewing recent events as a free stress test. Sounds like you have room for improvement.

— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) April 29, 2024

However, some, like Pouliot, likened Loup's actions to destruction, likening the move to a toilet in a condominium's jacuzzi.

We are all sitting in the jacuzzi at the spa and having a great time. One of us argues that we should go to another spa, the jaccuzi there is better: if someone decides to take a shit in the jacuzzi, it has a powerful filter to keep it clean.

We agree in theory, but it was…

— Francis – BULLBITCOIN.COM (@francispouliot_) April 29, 2024

Pouliot expressed his dismay at the incident, saying, “The only damage done is that open source Bitcoin application developers are testing the challenge and wasting their time.”

One member in the Bitcoin Talk Thread dubbed the controversy the “testnet war,” suggesting that individuals like Loop should be banned from participating in Bitcoin's testnet activities. The member named Loop as a potential threat to the overall security of the Bitcoin network.

Wiz commented on X that it would be impossible to catch up, no matter how fast, due to the frequency of new blocks being created every hour following the event. He suggested that unlicensed test networks may need to be permanently shut down.