Bitcoin’s Blockchain Drama
Last night Bitcoin’s blockchain, the public ledger recording all transactions, forked. For a few hours there were two versions of the blockchain. Big Problem.
The Issue was caused by the 0.8 upgrade. It seems the blocks it was generating were too long for 0.7 to recognize them. The versions diverged with each building a different blockchain.
The problem was quickly spotted and resolved within about 6 hours. However, many exchanges and businesses halted transactions during this time and the Bitcoin exchange rate took a hit. One Bitcoin is now trading at about $43 USD.
The solution was for miners using 0.8 to switch back to 0.7 until a solution for the 0.8 version is found and released. For Bitcoin users the problem is resolved, you can transact with Bitcoin as usual. For further information you can read a play by play of yesterday’s events from The Bitcoin Trader here, or read Bitcoin Magazines review of the situation here.
