'Bitcoin Bug' Exploited on Crypto Fork as Attacker Prints 235 Million Pigeoncoins

A severe bug discovered just weeks ago in bitcoin's code has been exploited – albeit on a lesser-known cryptocurrency. The developers behind the pigeoncoin cryptocurrency confirmed the exploit to CoinDesk on Tuesday, reporting that an unknown attacker successfully took advantage of the bug on September 26th, showcasing in the wild how it could have been used on bitcoin by printing 235 million coins worth about $15,000. That's because while the severe inflation bug was patched on bitcoin, other coins that have borrowed bitcoin's public code over the years are still vulnerable (if they haven't corrected their code). If exploited, the bug gives an attacker the ability to print as many coins as they want, going even above the hard-coded limitations on supply cryptocurrencies often have and decreasing the value of all the other coins investors hold.
Set apart by its X16r mining algorithm, pigeoncoin is not exactly a big cryptocurrency, not even ranking in the top 1,000 in terms of how valuable it is compared to others on CoinMarketCap. Still, the attack may be no less impactful on its efforts to use a blockchain to "end abusive data collection."