Little-known Chinese cryptocurrency exchnage FCoin is responsible for Ethereum network overload and unusually high gas fees recorded over the past few days. FCoin, founded by Zhang Jian, former employee of Huobi, is accused of intentionally encouraging a rash of Sybil attacks in order to temporarily damage Ethereum blockchain and attract undeserved attention. What happened to Ethereum network? Over the past few days, Ethereum network transaction prices have reached all time highs, creating problems for DApps and users who cannot pay high transaction fees. The spike in network activity which became a reason of this has been traced by in FCoin activities which, apparently implemented a “cumulative deposit number ranking” voting protocol in order to list new coins on the exchange. It means that in order to list a new coin on the platform, votes are cast by sending a desired number of coins to the exchange instead of using a standard “one-vote-per-user” voting structure. Once a voting campaign is over, a coin with the most deposits will be listed on the exchange. Nevertheless, this obviously creates a motivation to hold several voting campaigns using different account to send tokens to the exchange – this is Sybil attack. Why does FCoin need it? In opinion of a number of cryptocurrency analysts, obviously imperfect voting format and consequences are deliberate, aimed at creation of an influx of publicity. The exchange hopes to ride the wave of rage and fame in order to gain more popularity. |