Bitcoin Hit by Another Blockchain Reorg
Bitcoin experienced another small blockchain reorganization on Sept. 11. The latest incident occurred at block height 966,500. Two different mining pools produced valid competing blocks built on the same parent block. SpiderPools version was treated as the tip of the Bitcoin blockchain after reaching Galaxy Researchs node. However, AntPool had independently produced another valid block at the same height. The aforementioned block ended up becoming part of the canonical chain. It is worth noting that there was nothing wrong with the Bitcoin network. There was no consensus bug or successful attack. Short-lived competing blocks are completely normal despite the fact that the word “reorganization” might seem scary. What actually happened? According to Galaxy, AntPools ultimately successful block 966,500 had a timestamp of 11:30:30 UTC and contained 4,359 transactions. SpiderPool also produced a valid block 966,500. Galaxys node saw that block first. Hence, from the perspective of that particular node, SpiderPool temporarily represented the head of the blockchain. This is possible because Bitcoin blocks do not reach every computer on the network simultaneously. A miner in one part of the network might therefore see SpiderPools block first. Meanwhile, another miner might already be working from AntPools competing block. Notably, Galaxys node was initially unaware that there were two versions









