On December 30, 2019, several nodes stopped syncing with the Ethereum Blockchain due to fears of a potential network attack. Specifically, some nodes on the Parity client account for 21% of the total nodes, the risk of a 51% attack is very high. Therefore, the Ethereum Parity development team once again urged its node operators to update their nodes and not be afraid of any attacks.
Should the Ethereum Parity clients consolidate to one implementation?
After some of the Ethereum Parity nodes have lost their synchronization with the network, Parity Technology said they believe an attack is underway.
The attack is made in a simple way. You send the Parity node a block with an invalid transaction, but a header (borrowed from another block). The button will mark the block header as invalid and ban the block header forever but the header is still valid. Although simple, the attack almost destroyed the entire Ethereum network. And they could become much more vulnerable to similar attacks next year. However, the attack was unable to take down the entire network because it had a client named Geth immune to the attack.
Everything has been fine so far as the new release has been completed. The nodes can use this update to limit concerns about potential attacks.
We have investigated reports of some Parity Ethereum nodes not syncing and believe there may be an attack underway.
New releases v2.6.8-beta & v2.5.13-stable protect against this. *Please update ASAP.* https://t.co/t2bJLNuyZVhttps://t.co/483J7ziS0g
— Parity Technologies (@ParityTech) December 31, 2019
All Parity nodes, including those affected and those who are not affected, are advised to update their nodes to prepare for an attack.
Despite the need for updates on Parity nodes, the community still doesn’t know whether they should update their nodes to receive descending support for Parity. With the high number of nodes on Parity, currently around 1,600 nodes, the client still holds the value for the chain. However, some exchanges like Bitfly have warned their users to switch to a more stable Geth client in the coming days.
We have received multiple reports that @ParityTech nodes are randomly falling out of sync on the #Ethereum mainnet. See https://t.co/5cJRh4YtoO for more information. If you are using Parity as mining node we recommend to switch to geth as soon as possible.
— Bitfly (@etherchain_org) December 30, 2019
All consolidate into one client such as Bitcoin’s, Bitcoin Core?
With the constant drop out of nodes from Parity and other customers that make a minor contribution to the network, users/companies are increasingly turning to Geth. Can the school once and forever merge into one customer like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Core?
I’m a big fan of that narrative. Having at least two clients does have a lot of benefits IMO but might not last long. Is your argument that it doesn’t matrer because it will inevitably lead to consolidation?
— Larry Cermak (@lawmaster) December 30, 2019
Several cryptocurrency companies, including LocalEthereum, recently renamed LocalCryptos, have suggested a possible exit from Parity until 2020. Some argue that their Ethereum node fleet is primarily made up of Parity, with some Geth as a backup. And maybe with love for Parity, they didn’t have much interest in Geth. Therefore, one of the first things Ethereum nodes will need to do in 2020 is to rely less on Parity.
This will be an exciting time for Ether to look forward to the new decade.
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