Chia said that they identified a major security vulnerability in the token’s standard following which they decided to re-issue their CAT asset tokens.
Energy-efficient blockchain and smart transaction platform Chia Network has announced its decision to replace its seven-month-old Chia assets token. The platform said that the decision will help them address a security vulnerability that they encountered recently.
As per the official blog post, an outside editor helped Chia Networks to uncover a potential weakness with the token’s standard. As a result, Chia Networks shall now halt its CAT1 token on July 26 at 9 PM UTC. This will happen after the block height 2,311,760, post which Chia will start its re-issuance as CAT2.
Chia said that the vulnerability was serious enough to warrant the upgrade. This upgrade will also help to patch the vulnerability. The official announcement notes:
“In our most recent audit, Trail of Bits raised a potential class of vulnerabilities that led us to uncover a security vulnerability with CAT1, the standard we released earlier this year for asset tokens on Chia. Our team confirmed this issue has not been exploited as of this announcement, and we are continuing to monitor the chain”.
Chia Making Its Token Security Issues a Priority
Several blockchain protocols in the past have hired third-party auditors to uncover weaknesses. However, token re-issuances are infrequent. Paul Hainsworth, Chia’s vice president of product, said that Chia Network employed a round-the-clock monitor to ensure no users’ CAT tokens have been compromised.
He also said that as “an enterprise and institutional-focused blockchain”, the company puts greater focus on security. Speaking to CoinDesk, Hainsworth said:
“It took quite a bit of digging on our part to get to a high degree of confidence that this isn’t just a window dressing level of vulnerability. This is a serious vulnerability. We should end-of-life CAT1, patch it and upgrade everybody to CAT2”.
The Chia asset tokens are basically cryptographic primitives that allow individuals to issue tokenized versions of other assets such as stock, bonds, etc. The CAT tokens are different from Chia blockchain’s native XCH cryptocurrency.
The cryptographic primitives are algorithms that serve as building blocks in different cryptographic protocols in computer systems.
“CATs are an artifact that are actually built on top of XCH. It’s a separate type of asset altogether,” added he.
All the holders of CAT1 will get an equivalent amount of CAT2. To enable the re-issuance, Chia has asked the holders to upgrade to a 1.5.0 wallet. Besides, Chia has also asked holders to cancel any offers in progress.
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