A proposed Ethereum network rollback has emerged in the wake of a $1.4 billion Bybit hack, sparking debate within the Ethereum community.
Arthur Hayes, the CIO of Maelstrom and former co-founder of BitMEX, has proposed rolling back the Ethereum network to negate the effects of a recent hack on Bybit, which resulted in the loss of nearly $1.4 billion in ether (ETH). This proposal has sparked debate within the Ethereum community, with some supporting the idea while others express concerns about its potential impact.
The Proposal
Hayes made his suggestion on X, stating that he would support a rollback of the Ethereum network as it was done in 2016 after the DAO hack. He noted that ‘we already voted no on immutability in 2016′ and suggested that if the community wanted to do it again, they should consider rolling back the chain to help Bybit.
The Ethereum network rollback proposal is a proposed mechanism to revert the blockchain to a previous state in case of a critical error or vulnerability.
This would allow developers to correct issues without affecting the entire Ethereum network.
The proposal involves creating a new block that cancels all transactions made after a specific point, effectively rolling back the chain.
'It's designed to prevent catastrophic failures and maintain network integrity.'
It's designed to prevent catastrophic failures and maintain network integrity.
The Debate
However, not everyone is in favor of a potential rollback. Gautham Santhosh, co-founder of Polynomial.fi, expressed concerns about the impact on the Ethereum ecosystem, stating that ‘a rollback would break bridges, stablecoins, L2s, RWAs and so much more.’ He noted that the Ethereum network is now too interconnected for a clean solution like 2016.
The DAO Hack
In 2016, the Ethereum network was rolled back using a hard fork to reverse a theft of $60 million in ether from The DAO. This hard fork split the chain into two – Ethereum and Ethereum Classic. However, there are concerns that a similar rollback would not be as straightforward today due to the increased complexity of the Ethereum ecosystem.
The Bybit Hack
The Bybit hack occurred when on-chain analyst ZachXBT noted suspicious outflows of over $1.4 billion from the exchange. The attacker quickly swapped mETH and stETH for ether through a decentralized exchange, before splitting 10,000 ETH to 39 different addresses and another 10,000 ETH to nine addresses.
A Rock and a Hard Place
Sina 21st Capital has explained that Ethereum is now stuck between a rock and a hard place. They noted that ‘Ethereum can roll back the chain and destroy what is left of the decentralization claim or allow North Korean bad actors to keep $1.4B of ETH and unleash an eternal internal battle.’ Either way, they concluded that it is a terrible situation.
Ethereum's decentralization is rooted in its open-source code, allowing developers worldwide to contribute and maintain the network.
The platform's use of a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm reduces energy consumption and centralization risks associated with traditional proof-of-work (PoW) systems.
Additionally, Ethereum's smart contract functionality enables decentralized applications (dApps) to operate autonomously without relying on intermediaries.
This architecture promotes transparency, security, and community-driven governance, cementing Ethereum's position as a decentralized leader in the blockchain space.
Ether Price
The recent hack has had a negative impact on the price of ether, which has dropped nearly 3% in 24 hours but continues to trade rangebound between $2,600 and $2,800.
