0-Confirmation Double Spending Attack And It's Disadvantages On The Blockchain Network

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INTRODUCTION

The creation and introduction of the blockchain technology has been very advantageous, owing to the fact that it has many technologically advanced features and it offers security however, with this advanced security protocols also come advanced security risks and threats.

One this advanced security risk and threat is known as the 0 confirmation double spending attack, this type of security threat can be defined as that type of attack that occurs when the attacker attempts a double spending attack by spending the same tokens twice *before the network can confirm any of the of the two transactions.

The blockchain technology is not immune to this security threat of 0 confirmation double spending attack so listen further as I will be explaining and discussing some of the disadvantages that the blockchain networks are likely to suffer from, in the event of a successful 0 confirmation double spending attack.

• IT DESTROYS USERS TRUST

The blockchain potrayed its advanced features and security protocols to its users and earning their trust by promising security and privacy, the 0 confirmation double spending attack destroys this trust by basically providing evidence that the blockchain network is not as secure as it was promised to be, and its transactions can be manipulated.

Quite honestly, if you are in the business of offering financial services or any kind of services that has a high level of competition, trust is the only thing or advantage one industry or network can over the other and once that trust is undermined it is very hard to restore as a result the network will loose its adoption and in a long term become inviable.

• IT LEADS TO FINANCIAL LOSSES

Financial loss, loosing of funds, assets and cryptocurrencies is one the most certain and expected negative impact or disadvantage of a blockchain network been compromised or successfully yielding to a 0 confirmation double spending attack.

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When an attacker spends the same cryptocurrency or tokens twice or more than once, he or she creates an imbalance which must be balanced, the cryptocurrency that supposed to go for the other transaction will be lost by another party inorder to create this balance either by the supposed recipient of the payment who would have offered the goods or services, expecting for the transaction to be validated all to no avail.

Additionally, vulnerability and susceptibility of cryptocurrency and the blockchain networks to this security risk is going to hinder the growth and continued development and advancement of cryptocurrencies to be used as a generally acceptable means of payment.

• IT LEADS TO NETWORK CONGESTION AND DELAYS

Network congestion or delays in transaction processing time is also another disadvantage that can be caused by attackers who end up flooding the network with multiple transactions in their attempt to take advantage of little delays so as to successfully launch a 0 confirmation double spending attack on the blockchain network.

This effect of the 0 confirmation double spending attack is dusadvatageous basically because it slows down and causes delays in the time it takes to process a transaction and I believe no user myself included would want to have our transaction verification and validation process delayed, this delay can also lead to an increase in the cost of processing transactions.

• WASTES RESOURCES AND REDUCES NETWORK EFFICIENCY

The 0 confirmation double spending attack also causes another disadvantage to the network which is reducing network efficiency and wasting resources, I mean if the nodes of the network direct their time and their computational resources into trying to validate and process a transaction which was an to a 0 confirmation double spending attack it would be a waste of resources and reduction of efficiency because the time and resources could have better been spent validating other transactions.

Additionally, owing to very fact that nodes in the blockchain network is the factor, feature or mecahnism that ensures decentralization and security of the blockchain network as whole or in general, any reduction in its efficiency is sure to have significant and noticeable negative imapcts like for example compromising the entire functionality of the network.

CONCLUSION

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To conclude, I would like to say a very big thank to everyone who made the effort to read and go through this post which I have made, and I hope that you all were able to learn a thing or two from the several disadvantages of the 0 confirmation double spending attack on the blockchain network.

These disadvantages just to re mention the ones I explained and discussed in this post includes; wasting resources and reducing efficiency, destroying trust, causing financial losses and lastly it causes network congestion and transaction processing delays.