Calls for an Ethereum rollback have intensified after the most recent Bybit attack, which resulted in the loss of over $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum. But given technological and institutional difficulties, Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko cautions that restoring the blockchain to its pre-hack form is not a workable fix.
On February 21, the attack involved the transfer of a heated wallet from Bybit’s multi-signature wallet. Despite the transaction appearing normal, the inclusion of malicious code altered the smart contract logic, thereby enabling fund theft. Since then, many in the crypto community have argued for an Ethereum rollback to reverse the false transactions and retrieve the stolen funds.
Beiko says, in response to these calls, that such a reversal is essentially unworkable. Unlike the 2016 DAO incident—where a flaw let a hacker drain a sizable amount of ETH holdings and resulted in a contentious hard fork—this situation lacks a clear way to undo transactions without having broad effects.
“Any rollback is quite disruptive given Ethereum’s linked character today with distributed finance (DeFi) platforms and cross-chain bridges,” Beiko said. “The ripple effects would almost be impossible to control even if it were socially acceptable.”
Along with affecting Bybit’s stolen money, a full rollback would reverse approved transactions, including real-world asset redemptions and exchange trades. Such an action could cause even more financial losses, damaging innocent consumers and upsetting the larger ecosystem.
Certain well-known industry players, including Jan3 CEO Samson Mow and BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes, support a rollback. Nonetheless, teachers of Ethereum like Anthony Sassano have underlined that the way Ethereum’s blockchain works does not match such a solution.
Remaining objective on the topic, CEO Ben Zhou advised that any choice should be based on community consensus instead of personal opinion. He said during a conversation on X Spaces, “Maybe it should be a voting process to see what the community wants.”
Experts generally agree that an Ethereum rollback is not a realistic possibility even as the argument goes on. Rather, the emphasis stays on enhancing security protocols to stop the next vulnerabilities and lessening the effects of major hacking on the ecology.
