95% of BTC owned by 2%. 20% is lost behind forgotten passwords. What an asset! Freak show.
— Roscoe Langmore (@LangmoreRoscoe) January 22, 2021
Bitcoin Plunge Has Newbies Scrambling to Google ‘Double-Spend
Bitcoin fell sharply on Thursday, hitting its lowest level in nearly three weeks, as the popular cryptocurrency was hit with a double whammy that jolted faith in its user base.
First, Janet Yellen, President Joe Biden’s nominee for treasury secretary, suggested during her confirmation hearing on Tuesday that lawmakers “curtail” the use of Bitcoin because of its use in illicit activities.
And second, a debunked report from BitMEX Research on Wednesday suggested that a critical flaw called “double spend” had occurred in the Bitcoin blockchain.
Double spend is when someone is able to spend the same bitcoin twice. It is a feared and dire scenario for the digital asset, and the blockchain was thought to have solved the issue when Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin white paper in 2009.