Cat destroys Bitcoin node during price crash with “dirty protest”
A Bitcoin node is a central part of the Bitcoin (BTC) protocol. For bad actors, attacking nodes and bringing them offline is a good strategy to undermine the network’s resilience. For a British Bitcoiner, such an attack took place, as the actions of his cat friend made his Bitcoin node “unattainable”.
Bodl_hodler (who wishes to remain anonymous) told Cointelegraph that he “started running Raspberry Pi as an Umbrel node in January 2021”, when he wanted to contribute to the general decentralization of the Bitcoin network.
Below is a picture of the current node before the attack. Notice the vents on the node – a crucial element in the saga.
The node ran smoothly since connection, confirming Bitcoin blocks on average every 10 minutes according to the difficulty adjustment. But in late May 2022, when the price began to fall below $ 30,000, “Bodl went to log on to the node for the first time in a while, and it could not be found on the network.”
“So I pulled it out from behind the couch only to find that it was covered with a layer of crust baked on cat litter.”
To his dismay, Bodl discovered that his big black cat, Pablo, had thrown up on the Bitcoin node. The “dirty protest” had affected the node’s ability to connect to the internet and drive. Bodl explains: “The vomit came through the vents and took the node offline.”
In fact, if a Bitcoin node goes offline, it no longer contributes to the security of the network, potentially jeopardizing the Bitcoin protocol. Bodl jokes that “Maybe he [Pablo] mistakenly thought it was running a dog-themed shitcoin, “and” could not stand the volatility. “Bodl is a Bitcoin maximalist who does not have time for such as Dogecoin (DOGE).
Related: Brazil sends Bitcoin from space: A case for BTC satellite nodes
Fortunately, it is also very easy to turn on the node again and catch the missing blocks. Bodl said he “removed the power, reconnected it, luckily it turned on fine and took a few minutes to sync again to add all the blocks it had missed.”
The node was immediately revived, confirmed transactions and secured the network. “Tick took, next block,” has become a popular slogan among node runners due to the regularity of the Bitcoin blocks.
By the way, it is increasingly easier to run a BTC node and allows Bitcoin users to easily verify their transactions. Bitcoin hobbyists can now run Lightning nodes while some hope to earn passive income along the way. As for Pablo, he now has the company of a new kitten named Lottie who has recently joined the Bodl family.
