Ethereum News: Pectra Upgrade on Sepolia Testnet Faces Attacker Exploitation and Technical Issues

Ethereum’s latest Pectra upgrade on the Sepolia testnet has hit a rough patch, with an unknown attacker exploiting a vulnerability and causing significant technical difficulties for developers.

Ethereum’s Pectra Upgrade on Sepolia Testnet Targeted by Attacker

An unknown attacker exploited an overlooked edge case during Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade on the Sepolia testnet, prompting developers to roll out a private fix. The attacker repeatedly triggered errors by sending zero-token transfers to the deposit contract, complicating the rollout. On March 5, the upgrade went live but immediately faced technical issues with error messages popping up on geth nodes and an increase in empty blocks being mined.

Ethereum Price in Danger: Long Liquidations Soar to $90 Million

Ethereum (ETH) may have just gone through a leverage shake down as the cryptocurrency kicked off new weeks with a spike in sell pressure. The price briefly dipped below $2,000, which has been acting as a key support level in the latest bearish pullback. Many traders anticipated a bullish pivot, leading to a surge in appetite for leverage despite the brief dip below the support level on 4 March.

Crypto: Zero Transfer Halts Ethereum’s Pectra Update on Sepolia Test Network

An anonymous actor exploited an unexpected vulnerability in Ethereum’s Pectra update on the Sepolia test network, causing error messages and accumulation of useless blocks. The attacker turned an ERC-20 feature into a weapon, revealing a neglected technical detail that allows token transfers without tokens. This incident lies halfway between a technical bug and psychological warfare.

Bybit Market Share Halves After $1.5 Billion Theft

Bybit, a major crypto exchange, has seen its market share drop sharply following a $1.5 billion security breach in February. Data from Kaiko shows Bybit’s market share fell from nearly 20% to as low as 5% within a week of the attack. Binance emerged as the biggest beneficiary, with its market dominance surging to 62% immediately after the incident. However, both figures have since declined to around 9.04% for Bybit and 50% for Binance. The theft occurred when hackers exploited vulnerabilities in Bybit’s cold wallet system, stealing $1.5 billion in Ethereum.