Ethereum Client Developers Detail Difficulty Bomb Delays

Ethereum Client Developers Detail Difficulty Bomb Delays

The Ethereum London upgrade will also entail an adjustment to the “difficulty bomb” in addition to the long-awaited fee calculation shakeup.

The Ethereum London hark fork is set to launch to mainnet on Aug 4. With it comes the highly anticipated EIP-1559 that will begin burning gas fees after changing the current auction mechanism.

Another upgrade called EIP-3554 will also be included and will delay the network difficulty bomb until December.

Ethereum network client-provider Nethermind detailed the difficulty bomb in a July 12 tweet, explaining why it’s still needed.

Extending the Ethereum ‘Ice Age’

Ethereum’s difficulty bomb refers to the increasing difficulty level or complexity of “puzzles” in the proof-of-work mining algorithm. As the calculations become harder, it results in longer than normal block times and lower rewards for miners.

The mechanism increases the difficulty exponentially over time, eventually leading to what is referred to as the “Ice Age.” This is when the blockchain becomes so difficult to mine that it freezes and stops producing blocks.

The difficulty bomb and EIP-3554 is a defense against attackers that try to fork the chain, Nethermind explained. It added that it ensures there is continued maintenance and urgency for changes. Additionally, if core developers drag their feet with implementing changes, the difficulty bomb sets in and Ethereum becomes unusable.

“Finally and perhaps most importantly, when the merge happens, it’ll encourage everyone to hop onto the Proof of Stake system, or else they risk staying on a chain that is unusable.”

Lead developer Tim Beiko stated that he suspects London would have shipped one to six months later if it were not for the difficulty bomb.

The difficulty bomb was essentially introduced as a deterrent for miners, which may opt to continue with proof-of-work mining even after the blockchain transitions to proof-of-stake. This has now also been slated for December.

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The London upgrade is currently in its final phase of testing on the Ropsten testnet. It has seen more than 100,000 ETH burnt during the testing which began on June 24.

ETH price outlook

At the time of press, Ethereum prices were down slightly on the day. ETH is changing hands at $2,025, which is still within its six-week range-bound channel. ETH has corrected a total of 53% from its mid-May all-time high and is teetering on dropping below a crucial support at $2,000.

Top cryptocurrency prices today: Uniswap, Dogecoin, Ethereum shed up to 8%

New Delhi: Major cryptocurrencies were trading lower on Tuesday after investors booked profits. The digital token market has been cautious recently, following negative news flow last week. Eight out of top-10 digital currencies were trading lower at 9.30 hours IST, declining as much as 8 per cent.Trading volumes at major cryptocurrency exchanges fell by more than 40 per cent in June, research showed on Monday, with a regulatory crackdown in China and lower volatility among the factors depressing activity.Spot trading volumes fell 42.7 per cent to $2.7 trillion, with derivative volumes down 40.7 per cent to $3.2 trillion, London-based researcher CryptoCompare’s data showed.Overall activity in the markets have mellowed down a little over the past few days. On-chain metrics have also been sluggish. Many analysts are looking at this as the ‘calm before the storm’.BTC and most other digital assets fell on Monday as US traders were holding off awaiting Tuesday’s inflation report. Trading volumes across major crypto assets have been on a downtrend over the past week, but there is hope that the much awaited June CPI report by the Fed , out later today, will help rekindle markets, said ZebPay Trade DeskFor the first time, we have seen crypto markets behave in a similar fashion to traditional markets, where June-July typically have lower volatility and trading volumes as the summer cycle kicks in and traders are just generally not as active.“The start of the earning season in the US is impacted by Fed’s June inflation report, and that will play a significant part in the price action. Moreover, the upcoming Grayscale unlockings, coupled with the Taproot upgrade, is likely to lead to an increased buying by wealthy investors and BTC whales,” it added. Cardano (ADA) is one of the popular altcoins aiming to build an ecosystem similar to that of Ethereum . ADA grew from $0.18 levels at the start of the year to as high as $2.3 mid-May before losing some of the gains in the last two months.After the developers announced improvements in the blockchain including the ability to have smart contracts, the market sentiment for ADA has turned bullish. More than $30 billion ADA, about 72 per cent of circulating supply, is staked on the blockchain, setting the stage for a considerable price appreciation for the coin.While bullish in the longer run, ADA might witness a pullback in the coming days. ADA has broken down an ascending channel recently which is fundamentally bearish. In the shorter term, ADA’s Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator has seen a bearish divergence that might last for a few days, confirming a pullback.With support at $1.28 and $1.25, its downside may be limited even as it continues to exhibit further weakness. A stronger correction could however send it to $1.18 level. ADA has potential to break beyond $1.5 level in the mid-term.$1.28, $1.25, $1.18$1.39, $1.44, $1.56(Views and recommendations given in this section are the analysts' own and do not represent those of ETMarkets.com. Please consult your financial adviser before taking any position in the asset/s mentioned.)

Power Ledger to Move to Solana From Ethereum

Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) – Microsoft Corp. said it has agreed to acquire RiskIQ, a security software maker, as the tech giant tries to expand its products and better protect customers amid a rising tide of global cyberattacks.The company announced the deal Monday on its web site and didn’t disclose terms. Bloomberg on Sunday reported the purchase, citing people familiar with the matter. Microsoft is paying more than $500 million in cash for the company, said one of the people, who declined to be named discu