14 years ago: 184 billion Bitcoin too much - due to a bug

The "Overflow Accident" involved 8,761 Bitcoin overages. It was not the only time a bug prevented the existence of the blockchain endangered.

A small error in the code and suddenly there are 184 billion Bitcoin too much. One of the main promises of the world's largest cryptocurrency - the limitation to 21 million BTC - seems to have been broken. There is crisis mood in the community. The so-called "Overflow Value Accident" from exactly 14 years ago is becoming one of the most serious incidents in the history of digital gold. And a warning that the network, which is supposed to save the world with math, always needs the watchful eye of people as well. It is not the only time Bitcoin has been compromised by a critical bug.

It was August 15, 2010. Bitcoin's price at the time: $0.07. The world's largest cryptocurrency today is only a year old. The community consists of a gathering place for nerds, anarchists and cypherpunks. Satoshi Nakamoto, the secret inventor, is still among them. And everything is actually going as expected. Until block 74,638. A hacker finds a weakness in the code and exploits it. This allows more Bitcoin to come out of a transaction than goes in. Much more.

Satoshi himself fixes the error

To be exact: 92.2 billion Bitcoin. And that twice. That's how many coins the hacker generates in this block. At an input of 0.5 Bitcoin. Today, at a rate of about $58,000 per Bitcoin, this amount would probably be worth more than the world's total wealth combined. News of the bug spread quickly through the primary BTC communication channel of the time, the Bitcoin-Talk forum. Satoshi Nakamoto himself becomes active. He calls on miners to stop their activities immediately and puts together a first patch with his team in four hours.

The result: a hard fork, a temporary separation of the blockchain into two parts. A total of 53 blocks are reorganized, the largest correction in Bitcoin history. Briefly, two chains compete, but after 19 hours, the correct version of Bitcoin dominates again. The identity of the hacker remains unknown to this day. The price of Bitcoin remains undeterred by this whole incident. By the end of the year, it rose to 30 cents.

A similar mistake happened eight years later

Bugs at Bitcoin occurred frequently in its young history. Those who go through the official list see mostly problems in the early years. Usually they are insignificant and quickly resolved. But in 2018, a similar critical bug repeated itself.

Even more troubling: the developers in this case initially revealed only part of the problem. An anonymous user pointed out to them that there was a bug that caused Bitcoin to refuse service. This one had, according to Coindesk at the time, could temporarily cripple the network.

Even worse, Bitcoin Core developers discovered that the bug had also made it possible to create new Bitcoin. They kept the vulnerability secret until the first patch was rolled out on Sept. 18. Miners were urged to install the new update. The disaster - averted.

Both incidents show: The history of the oldest cryptocurrency was also marked by critical errors and human interventions. What remained untouched: the explosive success of the blockchain. The first critical bug occurred at a price of $0.07 per Bitcoin, the second time it was already at $6,000. Today, Bitcoin stands at around $60,000. And is still running, with a uptime of 99.99%. Flawless.