deBridge founder Alex Smirnov has urged Flow blockchain validators to stop processing transactions until the Flow Foundation comes up with a recovery plan for users affected by the controversial blockchain deprecation.
The rollback was in response to a $3.9 million theft that occurred on December 27, when an attacker exploited a vulnerability in Flow’s execution layer and siphoned funds off-chain via multiple cross-chain bridges.
deBridge is one of the main providers of bridge services for Flow and Smirnov called on the Flow platform to explain plans to address double balances for users who opted out of the service during the rollback period.
Flow validators have not yet been able to respond to Smirnov’s call because data from Flowscan shows that the Flow blockchain is stuck at block level 137,385,824, where it has been since 23:24 UTC on Saturday.
Around the same time, the Flow Foundation was established he said The blockchain was expected to restart within the next four to six hours. Flow exploit and delisting caused the value of the FLOW token to decline by 42% since the attack, CoinGecko data can be seen.
The return sparks discussion
Rollback chains are controversial because they undo confirmed transactions, creating uncertainty about user account balances while undermining trust in the decentralization and security of the network.
Smirnov sharply criticized the “hasty decision”, claiming that Flow had failed to notify ecosystem partners about the deprecation and argued that deprecating the chain would cause even greater financial damage than the original exploit:
“The rollback introduces systemic problems that impact bridges, maintainers, users and contractors who acted with integrity during the affected period.”
This includes cryptocurrency exchanges issuing the Flow token (FLOW), which Smirnov excellent may have put them in a hard situation in terms of handling deposits and withdrawals during the rollback period.
Gabriel Shapiro, general counsel at investment firm Delphi Labs, also sharply criticized Flow’s approach to solving problems, stating: “They are creating unsecured assets to cover their butts and expect bridges and issuers to take a hit or implement their own separate mitigation measures.”
Dapper Labs, the creator of the Flow blockchain, responded to the widespread criticism stating that no user balances or assets were affected, including Dapper Labs’ vault.
Cointelegraph requested additional comment but did not receive an immediate response.
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Flow was launched by Dapper Labs in 2020, and the team has raised $725 million in funding from companies such as Andreessen “a16z” Horowitz and Union Square Ventures to develop the ecosystem.
Flow probably fell compact of early expectations and was just $85.5 million in terms of value locked on the blockchain, while FLOW fell outside the top 300 tokens by market capitalization at $167.3 million.
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