Ethereum's Top Developers Think A Blockchain Split Might Be Inevitable

At least, that was the mood at a meeting of top ethereum developers late last week where a discussion on a controversial code proposal called EIP 999 led some to speculate the scenario is now a possibility.

Spearheading the code change is Parity Technologies, the ethereum software company behind the wallet that was impacted by the fund freeze.

Péter Szilágyi, the lead developer of Geth, the Ethereum Foundation-led ethereum software which serves the majority of users, disagreed, stating that if the code is made available it is likely to create a contentious split.

Each software communicates directly with the ethereum virtual machine - which takes smart contract language and translates it into more general code - but Parity and Geth do so in different computer programming languages.

By keeping up with each other's development, both softwares remain in sync and on the same blockchain not only with each other but also with ethereum more broadly.

If one team implements EIP 999 and the other does not, the blockchain could fracture into two divergent groups - two ethereums.

Just as the developers of the software implementations are split, so are ethereum users.

For one, if a split on ethereum occurs, it won't merely impact transactions, but also the thousands of tokens and businesses built on top of the blockchain, Van de Sande said in a blog post.

Following a split, each ethereum contract will simultaneously exist on both chains, or as Van de Sande described, "If you own rare online cats, now every one of them will have an evil twin in a parallel universe."

If a split occurs, it is likely that both ethereum blockchains will lose value as the community splits into two groups.