EOS Denies Protocol Bugs Will Delay Mainnet Launch

The development team behind EOS said that the recent discovery of what have been described as “epic vulnerabilities” in the blockchain project’s source code will not prevent developers from shipping the software on time.

Writing on Twitter, the EOS developers criticized media outlets who reported that the recently-discovered vulnerability — which researchers said would allow an attacker to gain control of all network-connected nodes — would delay the release of the EOS mainnet.

“Media has incorrectly reported a potential delay in the release of EOSIO V1 due to software vulnerabilities,” the team said. “Our team has already fixed most and is hard at work with the remaining ones. EOSIO V1 is on schedule; please stay tuned to our EOSIO channels for official information.”

According to Qihoo 360, the Chinese cybersecurity firm that first identified the vulnerability, the bug would have allowed an attacker to gain control of the network’s nodes by uploading a malicious smart contract to the EOS network. They could then have not only manipulated transactions but also used the nodes as a de facto botnet to mine another cryptocurrency or launch a cyber attack.

However, EOS lead developer Daniel Larimer quickly patched the vulnerability once Qihoo 360 made him aware of it, so the development team said there is no reason to delay the software’s production release.

creator Block.one is on track to raise $4.2 billion from the EOS initial coin offering (ICO), which began last June and is just days away from reaching its conclusion. But perhaps even more notable than that figure is that the company managed to raise it even while maintaining that the firm will not continue to develop the protocol’s software following its release.

Importantly, EOS token buyers who purchased tokens outside of the crowdsale or have moved their tokens to different ethereum addresses must register their tokens through the ICO website before June 2 to ensure that they can access them on the official network.