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Ravencoin Chain Split and Hard Fork

Recovery in progress. Last updated August 11, 2026.

Ravencoin is going through a network-wide chain split. It hit every RVN pool, exchange and solo miner at the same time, not only us.

What happened

  • Since August 7, 15:44 UTC an attacker has been exploiting a consensus flaw in the Ravencoin node.
  • The nHeight field in KAWPOW block headers was never validated, so blocks could be forged with almost no work behind them.
  • The first forged block landed at height 4487776.
  • Forged blocks stack onto the chain as if they were real, and they corrupt the node's block index, so an unpatched node stops syncing after a restart.

The official RavenProject release does not fix this

The release circulating as v4.7.0 does not fix this attack.

  • Its notes cover an asset transfer bug and two RPC fixes (sendmany, sendtoaddress).
  • Nothing in it rejects the forged blocks or resolves the split.
  • It ships as binaries with no source code. The release page says the commit hash and source "are not correct for this release".

If you run your own node, do not count on it to recover from this.

The fix that works

Run v4.8.0, published by 2miners on August 11. It is the current release and it replaces the earlier v4.6.1.1-hf1 emergency hotfix.

  • Rejects the forged blocks from height 4487776 onward
  • Checkpoints block 4487775 as the last clean block
  • Rebuilds the corrupted chainstate automatically
  • Carries the same fixes on top of the current upstream code, and adds the asset transfer overflow fix that the hotfix did not have

Upgrading is stop the node, swap the binary, start it again. No reindex. Coming from an unpatched node the first start replays the chain and takes several hours; coming from v4.6.1.1-hf1 it starts in under a minute.

All three of our nodes (US, Europe, Asia) run v4.8.0 as of August 11. They were on v4.6.1.1-hf1 from August 10.

Where the pool stands

We are mining the clean chain alongside the largest RVN pool and the rest of the patched network. The first block of the new chain, height 4487776, was found by RavenMiner.

2miners reports that the large majority of network hashrate is now on the patched chain, so the honest chain should pass the forged tip within a day or two. The more pools that run the patch, the faster that happens.

What this means for your balance

  • Blocks mined during the attack window are orphaned. This happens across the whole network, on every pool, not only here. That chain was never real, so its earnings cannot stand.
  • Everything you earned before August 7, 15:44 UTC is safe. Untouched, still on your balance.
  • Nobody goes negative. We reconciled every balance against the clean chain. Where the numbers did not line up, the pool covers the difference rather than pushing it onto you.
  • Payouts are paused while the new chain settles, and resume automatically once it is stable. Nothing you are owed is lost in the meantime.

Questions

Ask us on Discord or Telegram. We keep this page updated as the chain recovers.