MARCH 21
The First Attackers
The Day 184 Billion Bitcoin Appeared
The Signal
Anything that protects real value will eventually attract someone determined to break it.
The Reading
Yesterday, the first believers tested Bitcoin to see whether it worked. Soon, someone tested it to discover whether it could be broken. On 15 August 2010, Bitcoin produced block 74,638. Inside was a transaction with two outputs of approximately 92.23 billion bitcoin each. Together, they appeared to create more than 184 billion bitcoin, thousands of times more than Bitcoin was ever intended to contain.
An unknown attacker exploited a flaw in the early software. Each output passed the checks. Added together, the total exceeded what the computer could represent. The number wrapped around and appeared negative, allowing an invalid transaction to slip through. Jeff Garzik spotted the extraordinary numbers and warned the Bitcoin forum: “Strange block 74638.” Other participants examined the transaction and realised that a software defect had breached Bitcoin’s promise of scarcity.
That was only the beginning. People have since searched for weaknesses in Bitcoin’s code, tried to disrupt its network, attacked exchanges, stolen private keys and demanded that governments stop it. These are not the same attacks. Hacking an exchange does not change Bitcoin’s blockchain. Stealing a private key does not break its monetary rules. Finding a software defect does not defeat the entire network.
Bitcoin was never protected by hiding from its enemies. Its code was public. Its history was visible. Anyone could examine it, test it and attack it. The attackers came because something valuable had appeared.
First Principles
Value attracts people who want to steal, control, stop or discredit it.
Bitcoin’s early software was not perfect. A serious validation bug was successfully exploited.
Attacking a Bitcoin holder or business is not the same as defeating Bitcoin itself.
Today’s Challenge
Place an empty cup upside down on a table. Ask yourself how much time someone would spend trying to get underneath it.
Now slide a coin or piece of chocolate beneath it. Give yourself sixty seconds to invent three ways of retrieving the prize without lifting the cup. After each idea, add one rule designed to stop that method.
Value turns an empty cup into a target. Every defence inspires another attack, revealing something the defender missed. Bitcoin attracts attackers for the same reason. There is something valuable inside.
Tomorrow’s Signal
Why Bitcoin Survived