Vitalik Buterin Says DAO Hack ‘Fixed’, Assets Rebound

2016. Jun. 17. 14:15

Ether (ETH) and The DAO (DAO) has recovered half of its near 20% fall in value Friday as developers released news of the containment of the feared attack on DAO.

Also read: Vitalik Buterin: Russia’s Crypto Ban Would Stifle Blockchains

DAO Soft Fork to Save Funds

Despite wild fluctuations, ETH is currently trading at around $18 per unit, representing a roughly 9% overall drop for the past 24 hours. DAO regained even more – over half of its 55% plummet to trade at around $0.15 per unit.

The market was rocked earlier today following fears that hackers were using a loophole to drain DAO of all ETH funds.

In a post released in the past hour, Vitalik Buterin released a plan of action, which will ensure no funds are ultimately stolen. Users affected by the mitigation will also be able to ultimately regain access to any compromised funds.

“The leaked ether is in a child DAO at https://etherchain.org/account/0x304a554a310c7e546dfe434669c62820b7d83490; even if no action is taken, the attacker will not be able to withdraw any ether at least for another ~27 days (the creation window for the child DAO),” Buterin states.

This is an issue that affects the DAO specifically; Ethereum itself is perfectly safe.

Buterin explains that the remedy will take the form of a soft fork “with NO ROLLBACK; no transactions or blocks will be ‘reversed,’” which will ensure any actions leading to the suspect transaction being invalid.

The rollback will have the effect of “preventing the ether from being withdrawn by the attacker past the 27-day window,” he writes.

“This will later be followed up by a hard fork which will give token holders the ability to recover their ether.”

Panic Averted?

The significant fluctuations in value of both assets is leading to considerable panic among traders and media alike, with Doomsday language already propagating mainstream news outlets.

Bitcoin economist and investor Tuur Demester meanwhile described Buterin’s “fix” as an “H-bomb,” a sentiment echoed by Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert:

@TuurDemeester kaboom!

— Barry Silbert (@barrysilbert) June 17, 2016

The move was meanwhile greeted with broad praise on Reddit, with users agreeing that the strategy was the most sound in spite of any teething problems arising along the way.

“This is exactly the course of action I was hoping for. Thank you!” user u/ArticulatedGentleman wrote in the most popular response to the announcement.

Bitcoin’s price meanwhile remains steady, reiterating the changing relationship between its price and that of ETH. While previously having a see-saw relationship, the two currencies have been trading more independently of one another in recent weeks.

And finally, courtesy of Andreas Antonopoulos:

Bitcoiners: Remember how Gox and April 2013 felt. Now is the time to be supportive and gracious. Growing pains are part of growing.

— Andreas (@aantonop) June 17, 2016