Watchman Privacy 203 - The END of Monero?
Sep 16, 2025
Urban, known as Urban Hacker, is a privacy and blockchain commentator specializing in Monero. In this discussion, he dives into a recent significant blockchain reorganization that affected about 18 blocks, raising concerns over transaction reversals. He connects this event to a possible 51% attack and discusses the implications for users and merchants. Urban advises longer confirmation waits and highlights the importance of decentralized mining to fortify Monero against larger threats. He also explores potential protocol changes to prevent future reorgs while critiquing proof-of-stake for its perceived vulnerabilities.
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Deep Reorgs Can Rewrite Recent History
- A deep reorganization lets an attacker replace many recent blocks and rewrite recent history.
- Urban Hacker warns this undermines transaction finality and is escalating in scale.
Why Block Links Secure Transaction History
- Blocks group transactions and miners publish winners to build an auditable chain of history.
- Urban Hacker explains that linked blocks prove prior outputs were valid and prevent misuse.
Wait More Confirmations For Safety
- If you accept Monero payments, wait additional confirmations to reduce double-spend risk.
- For larger sums consider many more than the default 10 blocks before finalizing shipments or settlements.