Ethereum Community Split Over Onchain Rollback Amid Bybit Hack

As Bybit picks up the pieces from its jarring security breach, the Ethereum (ETF) community has been buzzing with speculation over the network’s future. One side of the divide makes a case for a blockchain rollback designed to eliminate malicious transactions, while the purists argue that the move will “kill” Ethereum’s credibility.

Forging Ahead With a Rollback

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes has declared support for a rollback for the top layer 1 network, pitching his tent on the premise of Ethereum’s hard fork in 2016. For Hayes, since the network has undergone a previous hardfork, a rollback to stifle the ability of North Korean hackers to use stolen assets should be an easy choice for validators.

Samson Mow, Jan3 CEO, endorsed the proposed rollback in conversations with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Mow’s theory proposes the $ETH ticker for the rolled-back chain and renaming the current chain $ETHNK, urging Coinbase and other exchanges to delist the token from their platforms.

While the debate rages on, hardliners in the Ethereum community may be swayed by claims that the stolen ETH by state-sponsored hackers will be used to fund North Korea’s nuclear weapon programs. The $1.5 billion pilfered from the Bybit hack surpasses previous security breaches in scale, dwarfing the top five biggest hacks of 2024 by a country mile.

A blockchain rollback is an event that reverses confirmed transactions on a network to a previous state. Traditionally, the concept involves chain deployment after security breaches, and it takes several forms, including forks and chain reorganizations.

Ethereum Community Against The Rollback

Amid the Bybit hack, blockchain proponents in the Ethereum community are adopting a hard stance against a rollback proposal, citing the grim potential of eroding Ethereum’s credibility in the grand scheme.

“A rollback can only happen if you split the chain. Ethereum’s reliability and neutrality would be at risk,” said pseudonymous crypto trader Borovik on X. “This should never happen, under no circumstances.”

Borovik’s argument has received support from Bitcoin proponent Jimmy Song, who notes that the Bybit incident is significantly different from 2016’s DAO hack. Song’s claim against a rollback hinges on the fact that the Bybit hack is a settled affair, while the DAO hack took a month to execute.

“I know people are expecting the Ethereum Foundation to roll back the chain, but I suspect it’s already too much of a mess to do it cleanly,” said Song