'Clear and Loud': Parity to Drop First Bid for Frozen Ether Fix

Parity Technologies suggested today it may not continue to pursue changes to the ethereum blockchain's software as a way to reclaim hundreds of millions in inaccessible customer funds.

The development comes days after the company outlined four ethereum protocol changes that would restore access to the $275 million in ether frozen last month due to a vulnerability in the software. The four options, detailed in a blog post, entailed varying changes to the ethereum's software – specifically, the ethereum virtual machine (EVM) which translates smart contract commands in code.

Speaking at an ethereum developer meeting today on the subject, Parity spokesperson Afri Schoedon acknowledged that its suggested paths for unlocking the funds were perhaps unsuccessful in achieving a critical mass needed for its ideas to be coded, proposed and accepted on the network.

He said:

"Actually, I don’t want to talk about it, except that one point is that Parity doesn’t want to follow up on the proposals, because we see the feedback was clear and loud."

The comment came after Hudson Jameson, the Ethereum Foundation's communications lead, asked Schoeden about the proposals as part of the meeting's agenda.

In a follow-up conversation, Schoeden, who speaks on behalf of Parity at developer meetings and on public forums, told CoinDesk: "We are not putting any more effort in improving these proposals."

Parity Technologies has yet to make an official statement about its next steps, but shortly after today's developer meeting, the company tweeted that it will be reviewing its options following the response to its blog post.

The post received harsh criticism not only from ethereum users, but also developers of the open-source network. In a Dec. 11 blog post, ethereum core developer Nick Johnson warned that the code changes could result in dangerous and unpredictable outcomes.

"Because of the risks and the level of uncertainty surrounding them, I personally can't recommend any of the four variants of this proposal for adoption," he wrote.

Crumbled paper image via Shutterstock