Ethereum, the competing digital currency to bitcoin, was dealt a blow on Tuesday (Nov. 7) when a vulnerability in a cryptocurrency wallet froze as much as hundreds of millions of dollars.
According to a news report in TechCrunch, Parity Technologies – which makes the hugely popular wallet Parity – said an issue could cause the contents of the wallets to be erased. The issue is impacting a multi-signature wallet that was issued after July 20; any ICOs that were held in the digital wallet after that date could be impacted.
This is the second time in months that a bug has been discovered at Parity that could hurt Ethereum, which is the second highest valued cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $27 billion. Back in July, the first Parity issue led to the theft of around $30 million of Ethereum. That first scare caused people to move away from the multi-sig wallet technology, which could lessen the blow from Tuesday’s disclosure.
While there haven’t been any reports of Ethereum coins being stolen or lost, a large amount of the digital currency is at risk, to the potential tune of around $150 million. In a comment on Twitter, Parity said the company is looking into the problem and that it thinks the wallets are locked.
The issue with an Ethereum wallet provider comes at a time when digital currency is gaining legitimacy, which has been driving the value of the coins higher. As an example, Ethereum’s rival, bitcoin, started the year trading at around $1,000 and is now higher than $7,000. The market got a boost last week when CME, the world’s largest futures exchange, said it would launch futures for digital currency. Meanwhile, Cboe Global Markets is pushing ahead with its cryptocurrency, ETF.
via pymnts
