Overview
- The first known invalid block appeared at height 4,487,776 on Aug. 7 after a flaw in KAWPOW block-header validation let nodes accept forged blocks without full proof-of-work.
- Two pools that together control a majority of Ravencoin hashpower, 2Miners and RavenMiner, are mining a replacement chain from block 4,487,775 that excludes the exploited branch and could trigger a roughly three-day reorganization if it becomes the dominant chain.
- 2Miners issued an emergency fix (v4.6.1.1-hf1) that rejects blocks with mismatched header heights and adds a checkpoint at 4,487,775, but node restarts may require replaying millions of blocks and tens of millions of transactions while operators rebuild damaged chain state.
- Exchanges including Upbit and Bitvavo have suspended RVN deposits and withdrawals, pools have paused payouts and RVN’s market price dropped about 17–20% as traders and services treat post‑Aug. 7 confirmations as potentially reversible.
- The flaw stems from an unchecked nHeight field that let attackers skip costly ProgPoW validation, maintainers recommend using the emergency pool code until a combined upstream patch is released, and the incident follows a separate 2020 Ravencoin exploit that also undermined network trust.