Bitfinex’s chief technology officer, Paolo Ardoino, revealed that an attacker tried to exploit the exchange using XRP’s partial payments feature. Despite attempting a $15 billion XRP transaction, the attacker failed, and Bitfinex successfully mitigated the threat.
Whale Alert, a blockchain tracking account, initially flagged the supposed $15 billion XRP transfer from an unknown wallet to Bitfinex. However, Whale Alert later deleted the post, acknowledging system issues that led to incorrect data reading.
Ardoino explained that the exploit aimed to take advantage of a vulnerability in software processing partial payments, assuming Bitfinex hadn’t properly configured its software. The exploit relies on a software vulnerability that reads only the amount field of an XRP transaction, potentially causing the company to misinterpret the transaction’s size.
The exploiter’s goal is to make the target company credit them for the difference between the actual and specified amounts. Ardoino highlighted that Bitfinex’s systems thwarted the attempted partial payments exploit by correctly handling the “delivered amount” data field.
The attacker also tried a similar exploit on Binance, sending a 58.9 billion XRP transfer, but it didn’t result in any credited amount to the exploiter’s account, indicating another unsuccessful attempt.
However, the cryptocurrency community strongly responded to the attempted partial payments exploit on Bitfinex and Binance.
Popular crypto YouTuber Ben Armstrong, also known as “Bitboy Crypto,” released a video as one notable reaction, cautioning viewers against selling their XRP. Armstrong characterized the exploit as an intentional effort to spread FUD, or fear, uncertainty, and doubt, in the XRP market.
Armstrong highlighted that the reported transaction of 25.6 billion XRP was highly unlikely, considering XRP’s total maximum supply of only 100 billion. He also pointed out that a significant portion of XRP is held in escrow, and the largest individual wallet holds only 5 billion XRP.
In addition to disputing the reported 25.6 billion XRP transaction’s accuracy, Armstrong stressed the importance of caution and due diligence within the XRP community. He urged people to verify information from reliable sources before making financial decisions based on potentially false information.
Armstrong suggested that the reported transaction might result from a hack of the Whale Alert account or an intentional attempt to manipulate XRP’s price by spreading false information.
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