THORChain under fire over Bitget, ETH evolves beyond blockchain: Hodler’s Digest

What happened

The drama began on September 25 when the Asian focused exchange Bitget revealed $351.6 million in “unauthorized transfers” but it later upgraded the tally to $387.5 million. THORChain refuses to blacklist addresses linked to the Bitget hack.

Vitalik Buterin says Ethereum is evolving from being a mere blockchain, into a world cryptographic computer. It said a preliminary investigation had linked the IP addressees to VPN services used by a North Korean hacking group.

While that isn’t firm proof, CEO Gracy Chen said its investigators had flagged other similarities with previous thefts. Chen then publicly called on THORChain to block the addresses linked to the attack.

“Decentralization is a design principle, not a shield for facilitating known stolen funds,” she thundered. Thorchain politely said no dice, which has set off a massive debate over whether they can or should comply with Chen’s request.

Decentralization maxis like Joel Valenzuela said doing so would undermine crypto’s cypherpunk ethos. THORChain’s ability to blacklist particular addresses is unclear.