Privacy Crypto Beam Suffers From Blockchain Stoppage
Beam, the newly-launched privacy-focused cryptocurrency, revealed that its blockchain was suffering from some technical difficulties. The announcement was made official by the company via its Twitter account.
Sudden Blockchain Stoppage
According to the official report, the firm reported that its network suddenly stopped at block 25709. It has also stated that investigations had been deployed. Within an hour after the tweet, the company said issues were both found and fixed. “Funds are safe,” the tech firm assured its clients.
Beam suggested that users should commit to Github in the next hours. Also, it promised to release binaries and a comprehensive Post-mortem later on.
In the latest news regarding the incident, the firm officially claimed that the fix was committed via Github. And to expedite the overall process, it would perform some additional tests and users should expect binaries in a few hours.
‘Improper Block Generation’
Apparently, the company’s Github page defines the error as a bug that involves “improper block generation, which circulated around a cut-through of some old-new UTXOs.
During the company’s January launch, it subsequently became the first digital currency based on Mimblewimble. The latter, in particular, is a protocol designed specifically to process transactions with utmost confidentiality. At the same time, these transactions are expected to be virtually untraceable.
Facing Technical Issues
But since its launching, Beam faced a great number of technical issues. Take for example the incident on January 9. The company’s team reportedly saw a very “critical vulnerability,” particularly on its wallet software. Based on this, the company asked its users to uninstall the said application right away. Once done, users were advised to re-download a patch that was made available on the firm’s official website.
It holds true that the critical bug was eventually managed and fixed. But many users found it quite daunting, especially since it could put their funds at risk. How exactly? Well, it would have allowed hackers to modify every transaction and, at the same time, forward funds directly into their own wallet. Interestingly, Beam acknowledged the issue and confirmed the supposed risk. Thankfully, the company was able to mitigate the problem right away.
Just last week, another privacy digital currency on Mimblewimble called Gin also officially launched. While it has experienced significant interest from cypherpunks, official reports suggest that a good number of VC funds were planning to mine the cryptocurrency.