Where "deep crypto skills" refers to someone who bothered to read the documentation on Solidity (the Ethereum contract language), specifically the section on function visibility[1], and the Parity wallet contract itself[2].

In other words, an obscure security hole was not found by a genius hacker. An obvious, trivial, simple mistake was exploited for $9m because the people investing money in it provably didn't know what they're were doing.

[1] http://solidity.readthedocs.io/en/develop/contracts.html#vis...

[2] https://github.com/paritytech/parity/blob/4c32177ef3f4521c66...

Very true – the price hasn't really moved in response to this news, which makes very little sense to me. I'd be shorting if I could figure out how.

This was a third-party wallet. Everyone used it because everyone else used it. Exactly like Mt Gox. There was no reason to store coins on Mt Gox, just like there was no reason to use this wallet.

A moment's reflection would have prevented this foolish decision.

But the bug allowed any other address to add themselves as owners and withdraw from it.

Luckily not many people used it and the white hat was able to claim all the rest before anyone else.

So many things wrong about that, it's the cryptocurrency equivalent of installing random software packages on your critical servers.

If you write your own you should get your code audited by a specialist, or many, before deploying.

About Parity

Parity's goal is to be the fastest, lightest, and most secure Ethereum client. We are developing Parity using the sophisticated and cutting-edge Rust programming language. Parity is licensed under the GPLv3, and can be used for all your Ethereum needs.

Parity comes with a built-in wallet.

How is this not a third-party wallet? They say right on the page that they're trying to be the best implementation of Ethereum. That means they're not the core implementation, right?

I have no issue using an open source implementation of something. You haven't explained why that's an issue.

How many millions need to be lost before this lesson is learned?

Very few people, for instance, use the official Bitcoin Core wallet.

They're your coins. Throw them off a bridge if you want. Meanwhile, people who stick with core tech have been burned zero times.

Why does the obsession with shiny new convenient thing outweigh people's good sense not to risk thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars? If that amount of money were printed out in front of you, you'd take extreme measures to protect it. "Don't use an un-audited third party piece of software that controls the fate of your life savings" is the most basic step.

It occurs to me that you might be arguing against this because you have a large sum stored in some third-party tech. If that's the case, I urge you to snap out of it and transfer your coins somewhere safe immediately.

I say "snap out of it" because that's the phrasing I would've used with myself, right before I lost money in Mt Gox. The only reason that happened is because I never stopped to ask myself "Is this a good idea?"

Using core implementations is no guaruntee that you won't get burned. The only difference between official software and third party open source software is the dev team behind it. The official devs can make mostakes just like anyone else.

You've veered away from your original statement towards one that I don't disagree with. Of course you shouldn't just trust any software you find on the internet. That's not the same as "only trust Ethereum core". Slandering "third party" as if that has any meaning is silly. You should treat everything on its individual merits, including the Ethereum reference wallet.

If you used Parity because it has 1,700 stars on Github and was written in Rust, you're doing it wrong. Stop. You can't assess merit based on what everyone else is doing. The only hope in a situation where you don't know what you don't know is to stick with fundamentals. And even then you could still get burned. But that hasn't happened yet, which is why it's the least risky move.

It will take at least a decade for the cryptocurrency ecosystem to stabilize. Why risk anything when you don't have to? Arguing "I don't use the Bitcoin Core wallet because it's less convenient" is exactly that: an unnecessary risk. If you're set on jumping into this world, at least do it safely.

I know you got burned in MtGox, but this has nothing to do with third parties or storing assets in some insecure manner. This is a fundamental issue with Ethereum and its community.

If you want to be safe, don't buy an asset that's being protected by a couple of young and naieve idealists that just care about putting their ideas on the market.

This feels like a good opportunity to point out that a big part of decentralized infrastructure is that there isn't a 'First Party'

If someone steals your coins from the "core" wallet, they're just as gone, correct?

The real moral, as always, is don't keep wealth in a crypto-currency. You'll lose it and have no recourse.

Stick with core tech. If it's not core, don't use it. It's as simple as that.

So the rule applies: don't trust online services with your money, especially if you didn't write the code.

Note, I work for Parity.