Ethereum has announced that it will halt the difficulty bomb upgrade on the Ethereum network for a while. According to the announcement, the step is one of the most integral that will occur before the major update. The major update is known as the Merge, which will see major changes on the Layer 1 network. In a statement by a developer on the network, the blockchain has suspended the said important update by two months.
Developers want to look into every variable before the update
According to a statement, the delay will enable the developers to look into vital details regarding the important update before choosing a date for the upgrade. The difficulty bomb will allow the network to remove incentives related to mining, with Ethereum looking to make the much-anticipated shift to a proof of stake mechanism. This means that miners would undergo a harder process to enable verification on the blockchain, which means that their rewards on the network will take a big hit.
In the same vein, this means that physical miners will no longer be able to sanction transactions on the block. The difficulty bomb was the agreed change that the network will witness and will be added as the Merge is scheduled to take place soon. It was discussed in 2016 when developers singled it out to become the consensus layer.
Ethereum slides under as unique wallets increase
According to the report by Ethereum, the move to a proof of stake network would also ensure that it sheds almost 99% of its energy needs. This is also the case for other networks that employ the same consensus mechanism, taking up a sizable amount of energy compared to proof of work networks. Although the statement did not talk about the Merge, this delay could mean an eventual shift in its debut time, which was scheduled to take place later this year.
With the market still posting bearish performances, Ethereum has continued to seduce more users into the fold. Since December 2020, Ethereum has been able to keep its total transactions per day to a limit above one million. Also, the number of new addresses created on the blockchain has risen over the last few months. Since a surge in 2017, the number has rapidly grown. Ethereum now boasts about 198 million unique addresses, more than 14 times the amount in the market in the said period. The token has lost much of its value in the last 24 hours, burning about 15.80% to trade at $1,238.
Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/ethereum-announce-suspension-difficulty-bomb/