Coinbase Freezes Ethereum Classic Trading Amid Suspected 51 Percent Attack
Coinbase pauses all Ethereum Classic trading after detecting a deep chain reorganization that results in double spending. The exchange freezes customer funds while the crypto community investigates the exact cause of the network tampering.
Coinbase temporarily halts all trading of Ethereum Classic after discovering a deep chain reorganization of the cryptocurrency's network. This type of tampering allows an attacker to rewrite transaction history and execute double spends, effectively stealing digital funds by invalidating past transfers. The exchange identifies one major reorganization and eight additional smaller ones that result in approximately 88,500 ETC, worth around $460,000, being double spent.
While many industry observers suggest this incident is a classic 51 percent attack—where a single entity gains majority control of the network's mining power—other explanations circulate within the crypto community. Some experts propose that Coinbase's own ETC nodes experience a localized network issue known as being "surrounded," while the official Ethereum Classic Twitter account points to powerful new mining hardware from a company called Linzhi, a claim the firm strongly denies.
In response to the security breach, Coinbase completely freezes customer ETC balances until the situation resolves safely. Other cryptocurrency exchanges take precautionary measures as well, significantly increasing the number of network confirmations required to process Ethereum Classic transactions in order to protect their users from falling victim to similar minority attacks.