The publicly traded U.S. crypto exchange said it would add support for the additional Ethereum “clients” – computer programs used to access and run the distributed network – to help reduce dependence on the dominant Geth software.
The Protocol: Ethereum Developers Warn on ‘Diversity Problem’
In this week’s issue, a focus on Ethereum’s “diversity problem,” the week’s biggest blockchain project upgrades and highlights from Electric Capital’s annual report on developer activity. PLUS: We’ve got an exclusive interview with a top architect behind the XRP Ledger.
Bug That Took Down 8% of Ethereum’s Validators Sparks Worries About Even Bigger Outage
The lion’s share of Ethereum’s validators rely on the same piece of software to power their operations. According to some experts, this could be a big risk.
Optimism Will Roll Out Single-Click Launch For Ethereum Projects
Many layer 2 solutions are competing on being the most active in developments. Amid these scaling solutions in Optimism, and given its latest announcement, it will soon enable developers to launch DApps with just a single click of a button.
Optimism provides support for all the apps on the Ethereum ecosystem. It ensures that transaction fees are lower by keeping its data on the blockchain but running computation off-chain.
The team’s latest blog reveals that an upcoming upgrade will facilitate the launch of DApps on its layer. This means that every tool running on Ethereum will also run on Optimism.
Latest Upgrade To Provide Support For Ethereum Protocols
The disclosure by the Optimism team assures the developer’s community that the upgrade will help them to simplify the process of launching their decentralized apps. Also, this simplicity stems across features such as gas and traces. Developers targeting Geth now have the opportunity to launch without changing their codes.
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Optimism disclosed that it had overhauled the codes. As a result, it can now go beyond being compatible Ethereum Virtual Machine only to become an EVM equivalence by making its protocol efficient and lightweight.
One of the steps the team took to reduce the protocol’s load was to delete its custom compiler. It also deleted over 25,000 lines of codes as it upgraded.
According to the post, the team asserts that developing the “EVM-compliant rollup” is not very easy given that it aims to support the whole Ethereum stack. Moreover, to also implement the security features which EVM requires will also cost a lot of money. However, it is mandatory because every line of codes added to the system comes with possible vulnerabilities.
Optimism Pursuing Compatibility
As for now, the layer 2 scaling solution is now fully equivalent with EVM using Geth. Though it is working to become compatible with alternative node implementations such as Erigon and OpenEthereum using below one thousand lines of codes. The team disclosed that they hadn’t changed the security model of the protocol even with this release.
The reason behind the growth of Optimism is the move from Ethereum mainnet to other chains & layer 2 solutions compatible with EVM
Ethereum has fallen by 7% in 24 hours | Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com
The migration of capital from Ethereum to these other solutions was to reduce the high fees characterizing transactions carried out on its base layer.
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The information from Dune Analytics even reveals that another rollup network Arbitrum has a TVL of $2.62 billion, which is the largest ETH Bridge. This rival protocol went live three weeks ago, and it is already making waves.
But it is not the only protocol as Polygon ERC-20 Bridge emerged after Arbitrum and is now boasting $2.35 billion in TVL. After Polygon came, Avalanche Bridge and Fantom Anyswap Bridge and each now record $1.86 billion and $476 million, respectively.
Featured image from Forbes, chart from TradingView.com
Optimism announces upgrades enabling ‘one-click’ roll-up deployment
As competition between layer-two scaling solutions heats up, Optimism has announced one-click roll-up deployments.
Ethereum Software Client Geth Issues Hotfix To Tighten Security
Geth, the most renowned software client of Ethereum, has provided a hotfix to the threatening security challenges in its code. The news was posted on Tuesday at 07:08 UTC to GitHub. However, the details of the terms were not disclosed immediately.
The release is titled Hades Gamma (V1.10.8); it was posted to Ethereum GitHub on Tuesday at about 07:08 UTC.
According to one of the posts on the release page, it didn’t disclose the details of the vectors, including their fixes. This would have allowed the dependent downstream projects and node operators to update their software and nodes.
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A report from Ethernodes.org states that close to 75% of all the nodes on the Ethereum blockchain run Geth. Therefore, these users are advised to upgrade to Geth V.1.10.8, the updated version, immediately.
Guido Vraken Discovering The Bug In Ethereum
A software developer Guido Vraken announced on August 18th that he had discovered the bug. Guido Vraken is a scientist who specializes in discovering open-source software code vulnerabilities.
He is also interested in scientific works, product development and validation, regulatory matters, and teaching. Guido Vraken is a graduate of the University of Ghent and a volunteer at Natuurpunt.
As stated earlier in the GitHub security advisory post, Geth’s vulnerability can make a node unable to execute Ethereum blocks.
The Ethereum experienced a temporary split on its chain during the last Geth code’s fix for a software bug. The split resulted from communication lapses from Geth developers regarding the bug, which was a deliberate act.
However, several computers known as ‘nodes’ don’t bother to customize their Geth users to the normal implementation. This led to a consensus failure in the blockchain, as recorded in November 2020.
Geth Developers Take On The Latest Version
In a blog post, the Geth developer team mentioned that not exposing the security vulnerability is backed by some reasons. First, the act delays all potential attacks on intending node operators that require more time to migrate to the newest version.
Now, Geth developers emphasize how urgent it is for all their software users to migrate to the latest version. However, their formal August 18th announcement didn’t explicitly describe the vulnerability nature and form.
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One of the Geth developers, Péter Szilágyi, stated his opinion while tweeting about the code release on Tuesday. He said that “People were not happy with our hotfix last time; they noted that we didn’t make the announcement. So we have decided to do it differently this time; let’s know the one that works better,” – he added.
Infura and other major Etherum-based wallets and services have pledged their support for this latest Geth release. They publicly made this announcement on Twitter.
Featured Image From Pixabay
Bug in Ethereum client leads to split — EVM-compatible chains at risk
“Stay away from doing [transactions] for a while till confirmed, unless you are sure you are submitting to latest Geth,” advised Andre Cronje.
Developers Debate Disclosure Protocols After ‘Accidental’ Ethereum Hard Fork
Ethereum’s largest client Geth hard-forked after a bug was tripped Wednesday. Developers are now weighing the merits of security disclosures methods.
Ethereum’s ‘Unannounced Hard Fork’ Was Trying to Prevent the Very Disruption It Caused
A hard fork that split Ethereum’s chain in two was activated on purpose, calling into question Ethereum’s client coordination.
Buggy Code Release Knocks 13% of Ethereum Nodes Offline
Over 1,000 Ethereum nodes will have to resync or find a new client provider after a critical bug in OpenEthereum’s codebase was revealed.
Ethereum Developers Delay Berlin Hard Fork to Stem Client Centralization Concerns
79% of Ethereum nodes run on Geth. Core developers have pushed back July’s Berlin hard fork so other clients can catch up.
Unpatched Ethereum Clients Pose 51% Attack Risk, Says Report
Ethereum clients that still haven’t patched known vulnerabilities pose a security risk to the entire network, according to new research.
Ethereum Clients Release New Software In Wake of Hard Fork Delay
Major ethereum clients are releasing new versions of their software to prevent the now-delayed Constantinople hard fork from triggering.
Ethereum’s Geth Software Upgrades Ahead of January Hard Fork
Geth has locked ethereum’s upcoming Constantinople hard fork into its latest code release.
This New Ethereum Software Client Is Built With Enterprises in Mind
Unlike other enterprise versions of ethereum, ConsenSys’ new Pantheon has a less-restrictive software license and uses Java as a programming language.
‘Turbo Geth’ Seeks to Scale Ethereum – And It’s Ready in Private Beta
Instead of tacking ethereum’s transaction costs, developer Alexey Akhunov focused on the blockchain’s state, and the software is ready.
Testing for Ethereum’s Coming Consensus Change Is Moving Ahead
Less than a year since Casper was formalized, ethereum clients are starting to test a smart contract for the network’s big consensus change.
Ethereum Infighting Spurs Blockchain Split Concerns
Parity is set on implementing their new proposal to recover frozen funds, and ethereum devs are worried there’s nothing to stop a blockchain split.
