Monero Reports on Resolving Fake XMR Minting Bugs a Month After Fix

The frightening reveal of nine security bugs through HackerOne internet security platform that had affected Monero in recent months - ranging from the insignificant and solved to the malicious and live - was a big wake-up call for blockchain enthusiasts.

The big deal with a faux XMROn June 3, a blockchain developer on HackerOne announced the discovery of a severe exploit in Monero that had granted hackers the ability to "Create" fake XMR and send them to exchanges.

Though the fake XMR bug is one among a list of issues with Monero - and the biggest losers are exchanges rather than traders or investors - it demonstrates that even the most private and security-centric coins can be compromised.

"Most of the vulnerabilities were disclosed few months ago, yet were only now fixed. While Monero developers are doing great work, they cannot guarantee no new coins were minted by deceiving an exchange. If such an attack would occur, it might've taken a long time until the exchange would've noticed it, unless their security mechanisms are advanced enough to scan its cold wallet storage and compare it with account deposits very quickly."

Especially for Monero - a self-proclaimed privacy and security coin - these failings may seem unforgivable.

Monero bugs tear down the curtains on cryptoAnother issue that has been exposed by Monero is that crypto is highly susceptible to the domino effect, given how the newest solutions are often stacks of first-iteration blockchain software.

There's somewhat of a silver lining to these recent events: There was no report of these bugs appearing elsewhere - and the fact that Monero brought it to the community's attention willingly does mean a lot - and a progressive angle that capably addresses the potential domino effect.

Monero merely the latestThe other major hacks occurring in the crypto industry help put Monero's troubles in context, and when zooming out, one quickly realizes that the technology may not be ready for the mainstream as it exists now.

If a decentralized app or platform on the scale of many that are popular today - Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Airbnb - were to be hacked in the way that Monero was, it would be an international crisis in the same league as Cambridge Analytica or beyond.

Though Monero has demonstrated the ascent to mainstream may take longer than imagined, it also showed us the safest path up the mountain, and that's one where blockchain projects support one another rather than racing to the finish line.