If you’re mining bitcoin, you’ve got child porn sitting on your hard drive.
According to a recent bombshell report, the underlying blockchain ledger that’s used to record bitcoin transactions — a massive online database that grows each time a bitcoin changes hands — contains files that are tainted with hundreds of links to child pornography sites.
Researchers at Germany’s RWTH Aachen University, who say their findings could raise worries about the future of cryptocurrencies, reviewed blockchain transactions and found that 1.4 percent — or about 1,600 files — contained data that had nothing to do with bitcoin.
At least eight of those files were ridden with filthy content, with one believed to show a picture of a young nude woman. Two files contained hundreds of links to child pornography sites, many of them on the dark web.
Other content that could be problematic if found on the blockchain includes copyright and privacy violations as well as malware, according to the researchers.
Buying and selling bitcoin doesn’t necessarily require a copy of the blockchain. Still, the findings have legal implications for many bitcoin participants that are needed for the blockchain to work — including and especially miners who must download the full blockchain ledger onto their computers in order to clear transactions, the report added.
“Our analysis shows that certain content, e.g., illegal pornography, can render the mere possession of a blockchain illegal,” the researchers wrote. “This especially endangers the multi-billion dollar markets powering cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.”
To make matters worse, the filthy data can’t be deleted because the blockchain has been devised as a permanent, irreversible ledger — a feature that mostly has been touted as potentially useful for storing business contracts and legal documents.
“Since all bitcoin participants maintain a complete local copy of the blockchain, these desired and vital features put all users at risk when objectionable content is irrevocably stored on the blockchain,” the researchers said.
“The possibility to store non-financial data on cryptocurrency blockchains is both beneficial and threatening for its users.”