Ethereum wallet vulnerability freezes hundreds of millions of dollars

Ethereum is a hugely promising blockchain technology which has really taken off this year, thanks in no small part to the backing of major companies like Microsoft, Intel and Cisco. It is also super valuable as a cryptocurrency, being worth around $28 billion, and a great platform for ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings).

So, many startups are now turning to Ethereum to raise money, and the way that they are doing it is through smart contracts. Only problem is, they are not bullet-proof, as a newly-uncovered vulnerability in a popular wallet puts hundreds of millions of dollars at risk.

The wallet in question is called Parity, and the company behind it, Parity Technologies, says that the vulnerability has been present in the code since July 20, but it was only discovered after it was accidentally triggered this week.

And, as a result,"no funds can be moved out of the multi-sig wallets" created after July 20. Parity Technologies does not say how much Ethereum is frozen, but an estimate puts the amount at around 500,000. That would be worth around $150,000,000 at the time of writing this article.

One startup that had an ICO, Polkadot, says that it is affected by this vulnerability. It raised over $145,000,000 at closing, late last month.

Parity Technologies is looking into this vulnerability and has promised to release an update soon.

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