No Ethereum Fork To Unlock Frozen $264 Million

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The ethereum chain will not fork to recover nearly $300 million locked in the system because of a software bug, developers have revealed.

The bug in wallets based on code written by Parity Technologies left $264 million inaccessible in electronic wallets in November 2017.

Since then, the developers have struggled to find a way to unlock the money, leaving a software hard fork the only logical way forward.

Parity is the software house that developed the software that underpins the cryptocurrency ethereum.

But company co-founders Gavin Wood and Jutta Steiner have announced they have no plans to fork ethereum to unfreeze the money.

Apology but no solution

“We are deeply sorry to the users who remain unable to access their ether because of a bug in our code,” the pair has announced.

“We have been in constant conversation with affected projects and believe that those in the community who have stuck ether, either through the wallet freeze or other issues, have a case for attempting to recover the property.

“Although the debate around the recovery has been challenging for everyone, it has uncovered numerous important issues and helped us all come to a better understanding of the underlying arguments.

“It has also clearly shown the importance of a transparent governance process that can respond to the community’s position on contentious issues such as ASIC resistance, supply caps, and contract restorations. This debate has advanced a tough conversation and we’re encouraged by the thoughtful discourse.

No split in the chain

“Let us make clear: we have no intention to split the ethereum chain. We plan to continue to work with the community to find a path forward. We have all dedicated a great deal of time and effort to developing the ethereum ecosystem and have no intention of harming what we have helped build. We believe ethereum is a crucial piece of the decentralised web infrastructure and are fully committed to making the platform open, scalable, and safe today and in the future.”

A cryptocurrency hardfork is when a digital currency developer changes the programming of the coin in a way that is incompatible between the older and newer versions.