Linea, Ethereum’s layer-2 solution, is making strides towards greater decentralization after the project’s team made the decision to manually halt block production in order to address a hacker’s activities.
Linea, a zkEVM solution aimed at enhancing scalability with a locked value of over $1 billion, faced criticism for its controversial move to stop the entire network to censor an address linked to a hacker who targeted the Linea-based decentralized exchange Velocore, resulting in a loss of $7 million.
In a recent X thread on Jun. 3, the project team confirmed the suspension of block production, emphasizing that it was a difficult decision to make. This temporary halt, which took place during a crucial hour between block 5,081,800 and 5,081,801, allowed Linea to evaluate the situation and collaborate with the Velocore team to address the vulnerability.
While this action sparked concern within the crypto community, as it disrupted a network with a total value of over $1.2 billion, Linea acknowledged the importance of transitioning towards a fully decentralized and censorship-resistant network. The project reiterated its commitment to creating a permissionless and censorship-resistant environment.
Both Linea and Velocore teams have taken steps to mitigate the exploit, including engaging in on-chain negotiations and working with centralized exchanges to freeze the funds that were exploited. Velocore has also released a post-mortem report detailing the affected pools and the ongoing efforts to compensate impacted users.
Additionally, Consensys’ Infura and MetaMask have addressed an issue related to the blockade of Venezuelan users, demonstrating the continuous efforts within the Ethereum ecosystem to uphold its core values and ensure a secure and decentralized environment.