Blockchains are naturally based upon immutability but further security and trust is often needed as platforms expand and evolve. A new Ethereum Trust Alliance has just been launched to address this issue.
Ethereum Trust Alliance
Announced this week, the Ethereum Trust Alliance has been formed by a global coalition of professional security organizations joining forces to increase trust in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Today we are very proud to announce the formation of the Ethereum Trust Alliance (ETA)! Learn more about what we are building at https://t.co/UffkvjSpDz pic.twitter.com/fCvnHFvXNI
— Ethereum Trust Alliance (@ethtrustorg) February 3, 2020
The group, primarily consisting of blockchain security firms, is creating a security rating system for smart contracts to help users gain greater awareness of smart contract security. The rating will also be applied to smart contracts that have gone through security audits.
The founding members are MythX, Quantstamp, Runtime Verification, Sooho, SmartDec and ConsenSys Diligence.
For Ethereum to truly become a global settlement layer for all types of transactions across all types of industry sectors, it needs a trust indicator for the smart contracts governing those transactions.
The website continues to state that smart contracts are vulnerable and ‘one small flaw in smart contract code to lock up or lose tens of millions of dollars in an instant’.
It compares itself to Moody’s which advises on risks associated with different investment classes
“Similarly, ETA ratings are designed to signal to the Ethereum community which smart contracts have been through certain levels of rigorous testing to help ensure that vulnerabilities have been addressed. The higher the ETA level the lower the associated risk.”
The group aims to create a registry of smart contracts where the security rating level of a smart contract can be queried. Ethereum wallet users can see the contract’s security rating before they send tokens to it. It added;
“If only we had these ratings during the ICO boom of 2017, we believe that many of us who were woefully uninformed about fundamental risk indicators would have had the information required to make better decisions.”
The first specification of ratings is expected to be launched in Q1 2020 according to the group.
ETH Price Update
Ethereum prices have corrected a little today along with a general downturn in crypto markets. According to Tradingview.com there was a dip back to $182 a few hours ago before recovery to current levels which are a touch below $190.
Since the beginning of the year Ethereum has made 45%, outperforming its big brother which has notched up a gain of 28% over the same period.
Ethereum is expected to break the psychological $200 barrier this month which could lead to greater gains as altcoins recover.
Is more trust needed for the Ethereum ecosystem? Add your comments below.
