Ethereum Developers Agree to Delay ‘Difficulty Bomb’ Until the Next Hard-Fork

By Sumedha Bose

An important event for Ethereum enthusiasts took place on August 31. 14 core Ethereum developers had a meeting via conference call last Friday.

The meeting aimed to address the on shoulder issues in the Ethereum network. Other network developers along with miners and traders had their speculation before the meeting.  The primary concern for everyone was the arrival of ‘difficulty-bomb’ for Ethereum.

The most notable conclusions drawn from the meeting were the decison to delay the ‘difficulty-bomb’ and reduce mining rewards.  The ‘difficulty-bomb’ is on delay till next hard-fork. Mining rewards have been reduced from 3 Eth to 2 Eth mining per block in the network.

The first big announcement was that of delaying the ‘difficulty-bomb.’  This delay is for 12 months until the next hard-fork.

Difficulty bomb is the situation where the difficulty of developing every subsequent block in the network keeps on increasing. It makes mining more difficult, complicated, unfavorable and costly. The reason behind the delay of ‘difficulty-bomb’ is reported to make a smooth shift towards proof of stake algorithm form proof of work.

The news had mixed reactions from traders and miners. The miners were happy as they can keep on mining at the usual pace.  The investors are worried about future fall in prices with a continuous supply.

The second announcement of the day regarding mining rewards left the miners disappointed. According to miners the reduction in mining rewards will demotivate the miners. They also emphasized that focus of miners might shift from mining ethereum to other digital assets. Traders are seemingly happy with this move. They justify it by saying it will curb the price fall of Ethereum currency in the market with less supply.

The meeting also concluded that the following Constantinople upgrade in October is focused on improving transaction efficiency and reducing cost. This will also reduce the mining time. Apart from this, it is also focused on a smooth shift from proof of work to proof of stake algorithm.

For now, currency will be mined at the same pace although rewards are reduced as an effort to discourage the mining and keep them from falling.