It has been claimed that a smart contact linked to a clone of the FOMO3D game is the reason for the recent clogging up of the Ethereum network. Transactions involving the game’s underlying contract have caused Ethereum Gas prices to rise as much as 140% over the last week, according to analysis done by Amberdata, a blockchain analytics platform.
FOMO3D itself is game developed by an anonymous group called Team JUST as a parody of what it believes the crypto market has become.
The game invites participants to buy access to Ethereum keys to win all the Ether governed by the smart contact. The last person to buy a key before a timer counts down to zero wins the contents of the smart contract – the catch being that every time a key is purchased, 30 seconds is added to the timer.
The Mysterious Clone
The FOMO3D contract currently contains 21,775 ETH, with the timer hovering at around 3 minutes. However, this is not the contract clogging up the network. The culprit appears to be a clone, going by the name of ‘Lastwinner.’ The clone has no public interface, but a statement reportedly made by the creators of FOMO3D have warned that it’s likely to a scam.
Ether is allegedly being sent to and from the smart contract to create the illusion of an active game to lure participants in. Team JUST allege that at some point the syndicate running it will disappear with the contents of the wallet.
The upside of all this is that it’s stress testing Ethereum’s network. When FOMO3D was launched, it quickly became the most active address on the network causing the Gas price to rise in July.
At one point there was speculation that Ethereum miners were colluding to influence the outcome of the game. Whether this is true or not, it has forced the Ethereum community to consider the network’s capacity and vulnerabilities.
