Ethereum’s big changeover to a more energy-efficient system, which has been promised by developers for years, may be pushed back yet again as they plan to postpone a so-called difficulty bomb, which is designed to gradually boot miners off the blockchain.
The difficulty bomb, a special code that has always been a part of Ethereum, rapidly increases the computing difficulty of mining the elemental token, ultimately making it impossible.
When the bomb detonates and is allowed to continue, it indicates that the days until the alleged Merge – Ethereum’s shift to the proof-of-stake system for ordering transactions – are numbered.
Proof of stake involves people staking coins to order the transaction, which is a process alleged to absorb 99% less power.
Following a discussion regarding the eradication of several bugs identified when running the software for one of the earliest testnets of the network – Merge on Ropsten, the developers chose to delay the difficulty bomb on Friday.
While a specific date for the Merge has not yet been set by the developers officially – Vitalik Buterin – Ethereum co-founder stated that the merge could take place as early as August, if no major issues arise. The decision to delay the difficulty bomb raises concerns that the much-anticipated upgrade will take longer.
Call participant Thomas Jay Rush stated that a delay gives time. It has a negative impact on the community, but there is nothing one can do about it.
There was a delay in the difficulty bomb several times before. Though it detonated this month, developers intend to disable it and then re-deploy it at a later date. There is no clarity as to when this will happen. Many were hopeful that there won’t be a need for delay, as the Merge will take place soon.
Last month, Buterin stated that there is a possibility for the merge to be postponed to September or October if developers require more time.
According to Tim Beiko, who coordinates Ethereum developers, there is only a 1 percent to 10 percent chance that the Merge will not take place this year.
During the Friday call, developers indicated that the difficulty bomb delay has no bearing on the Merge’s timing.
Beiko, who also moderated the Friday call, expressed concern about developer burnout if the Merge is completed without delaying the difficulty bomb for a feasible amount of time.
If we do delay this, I think it should be a reasonable delay so that there is still a sense of urgency, Beiko said. However, too much pressure causes teams to burn out, which is another situation we don’t want to be in.
The likely delay curbs the excitement surrounding the Merge, which was upgraded on Ropsten on Wednesday. Because Ropsten is one of Ethereum’s oldest testnets, it can provide one of the most realistic technical environments for testing the Merge, checking for bugs, and evaluating the final process.
So far, developers have discovered several issues in the test.
Perhaps we’re not quite at mainnet code, Beiko said during the call.
The second most valuable token by market capitalization after Bitcoin fell as much as 6.4 percent on Friday and has dropped nearly 66 percent from its all-time high in November 2021.
On Friday evening, ether was trading at $1,673.
