The Bitcoin developer who prevented bitcoin cash from a catastrophe.

We all know bitcoin cash which is a fork of bitcoin but do you know in 2018 there was a bug called “SIGHASH_BUG ” which could’ve led to a potential “catastrophe” for Bitcoin cash.

So back in the 2018 the bitcoin developer named corey field found the critical flaw in the bitcoin, which he reported anonymously to the bitcoin cash developers. If the bug was exploited it would have caused an chain split in the bitcoin cash network.

So what exactly is “SIGHASH_BUG”?

In cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, transactions are verified using digital signatures. These signatures ensure that only the rightful owner of a certain amount can spend it. To verify these transactions it’s the software job to verify these transactions so nobody can cheat the system.

So when an accidental programming bug in a new version of the software causes a transaction to be considered valid when all previous versions of the software reject it as invalid? The result is a “chain split”.

The bitcoin developer also published an article months later after discovering the bug describing how he found the bug and what disaster it could’ve caused to the bitcoin cash and why he told the bitcoin cash developers about the bug “anonymously”.

he also described that he wasn’t obligated to report the bug but he did because he would have hoped the same if someone else would’ve found the bug in the bitcoin core.

you can read it all here.

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