Ethereum is the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. It’s also known for the fast processing of transactions while making crypto payments. However, it has some critical challenges. Vitalik Buterin took to Twitter to say that bugs in code are Ethereum’s ‘biggest technical risk’. Let’s have a look at what he said:
“One application of AI that I am excited about is AI-assisted formal verification of code and bug finding.
Right now ethereum's biggest technical risk probably is bugs in code, and anything that could significantly change the game on that would be amazing.”
- Vitalik Buterin, Co-founder of Ethereum
[Also Read: A Complete Guide to Integrating Ethereum Payment Gateway on Your Website]
What are these bugs?
Let’s discuss some major (and popular) bugs:
- One of the most recent bugs reported was in January 2024. This bug was reported in Nethermind client software. Nethermind is a software used by blockchain validators to interact with the network. A bug in that software caused 8% of Ethereum validators to go offline. This highlights the risk of relying on less client software used for validation. However, this issue hasn’t happened with Geth, another client software. This issue with Nethermind didn’t cause a major network outage, and it didn’t affect ongoing crypto payments.
- Another bug in the Ethereum blockchain froze ETH worth $170 million in Nov 2017. A bug in the Parity Ethereum wallet software allowed a user to convert a contract governing multi-signature wallets into a regular wallet address. The user became an owner of the contract. And then the contract got killed by freezing all the wallets.
- How can anyone forget the bug that was capable of making anyone an ETH millionaire? A bug in the Ethereum network allowed users to have unlimited ETH supply. Thankfully, this issue was fixed in January 2019, and we didn’t find any report of major misuse. Just imagine the condition of some platforms like crypto payment gateways and crypto exchanges if everyone got to know about this issue.
These were some major and popular bugs. There are many vulnerabilities reported with the Ethereum network. Some have affected individuals, while some have affected service providers like crypto payment gateways and exchanges. Some may cause an outage in services like crypto payments.
Vitalik Buterin’s Thoughts
Ethereum co-founder said that he was excited about such AI tools that are capable of verifying a code and finding bugs. He publicly admitted that such bugs in the code are Ethereum’s biggest technical risks. Which seems to be a responsible statement from a co-founder. He expected a game-changing tech that could reduce or remove such vulnerabilities.
Conclusion (Team Coinremitter’s Thoughts)
Vitalik Buterin’s statement was bold and appreciable. However, Coinremitter provides support for Ethereum in its crypto payment gateway and wouldn’t expect such vulnerabilities. Merchants accepting crypto payments in Ethereum expect not to face them. AI tools detecting bugs in code will definitely reduce human efforts as well as errors. However, the accuracy of such tools must be on point. We neither support nor oppose Vitalik Buterin’s thoughts, we just expect solutions for such vulnerabilities.