Bitcoin to Gain Ethereum’s Functionality Through Counterparty, Launch by Autumn

Counterparty is to launch Ethereum’s Virtual Machine on testnet in two weeks, with a mainnet launch estimated around Autumn 2016, bringing Ethereum’s smart contract functionality to Bitcoin.
Counterparty’s EVM is 99% the same as Ethereum’s, according to sources, and has 85% test coverage, higher than Ethereum’s python core library, Pyethereum, according to a press release.
Response to the DAO hack
Responding to the recent DAO debacle, the press-release emphasises that Counterparty’s work on an EVM port continues as planned, but a new bylaw has been implemented.
The press-release says:
‘[F]orbids the Counterparty development team from publishing code to fork and/or roll-back the network as a response to bugs in specific smart contracts. (Where the fault is due to a bug in the underlying EVM — and not any specific smart contract that runs on it — the development team will of course write and publish bug fixes.)’
It further adds a new kill switch whereby a yet to be determined number of Counterparty holders can ‘initiate a rapid shutdown of the EVM subsystem while the rest of the Counterparty network continues to function perfectly.’

This post was published at Coin Telegraph on 2016-06-28.