Ethereum, the competing digital currency to bitcoin, was dealt a blow on Tuesday (Nov. 7) when a vulnerability in a cryptocurrency wallet froze as much as hundreds of millions of dollars.
According to a news report in TechCrunch, Parity Technologies – which makes the hugely popular wallet Parity – said an issue could cause the contents of the wallets to be erased. The issue is impacting a multi-signature wallet that was issued after July 20; any ICOs that were held in the digital wallet after that date could be impacted.
This is the second time in months that a bug has been discovered at Parity that could hurt Ethereum, which is the second highest valued cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $27 billion. Back in July, the first Parity issue led to the theft of around $30 million of Ethereum. That first scare caused people to move away from the multi-sig wallet technology, which could lessen the blow from Tuesday’s disclosure.
While there haven’t been any reports of Ethereum coins being stolen or lost, a large amount of the digital currency is at risk, to the potential tune of around $150 million. In a comment on Twitter, Parity said the company is looking into the problem and that it thinks the wallets are locked.
The issue with an Ethereum wallet provider comes at a time when digital currency is gaining legitimacy, which has been driving the value of the coins higher. As an example, Ethereum’s rival, bitcoin, started the year trading at around $1,000 and is now higher than $7,000. The market got a boost last week when CME, the world’s largest futures exchange, said it would launch futures for digital currency. Meanwhile, Cboe Global Markets is pushing ahead with its cryptocurrency, ETF.