By Binance Editorial Team
On August 15, 2010, Bitcoin teetered on the edge of total collapse.
In a single block — Block #74,638 — a critical vulnerability was exploited, minting an impossible 184,467,440,737 BTC out of thin air. That’s over 8,800 times Bitcoin’s hard-coded 21 million supply limit.
Two addresses were credited with 92.2 billion BTC each, instantly shattering the core principle of scarcity that underpins Bitcoin’s value.
🛠️ The culprit?
A coding flaw known as CVE-2010-5139, an integer overflow bug that failed to validate large transaction outputs. It allowed users to create coins from nothing — a direct threat to Bitcoin’s credibility.
But within hours, the response was swift.
👤 Satoshi Nakamoto — Bitcoin’s elusive creator — and early developer Gavin Andresen acted fast, releasing version 0.3.10 of the Bitcoin client.
This update implemented a soft fork that invalidated the fraudulent block, reversing the ledger to a clean state before the exploit occurred.
💡 Why it mattered:
Had this issue gone unresolved, Bitcoin could have collapsed overnight. Confidence in its fixed supply and code integrity would have disintegrated. Instead, the crisis showcased something powerful:
🔒 The strength of a decentralized community to course-correct — fast.
And despite the near-death experience, Bitcoin didn’t just survive — it thrived.
By the end of 2010, its price jumped from $0.07 to $0.30 — a 300% increase, showing growing trust in the system's resilience.
Key Takeaway:
Bitcoin’s journey hasn’t been flawless — but its ability to withstand existential threats like the 184B bug proves one thing:
Code can be patched. Trust must be earned — and Bitcoin earned it.
💥 This was Bitcoin’s first major test — and it passed.