Researcher: Ethereum Constantinople "It could not come at a worse time"

Since the activation date of Ethereum Constantinople has been confirmed, a mass of leading researchers, analysts and crypt commentators have said that the relevant blockchain update is a net positive for this sector. However, a thorough and sustained exposure from the pursuit of an industry insider has gone against the popular belief, arguing that Constantinople "could not come at a worse time".

Constantinople is upon us

In early November, NewsBTC reported that the data provided by Susquehanna indicated that the mining operations of Ethereum were all but feasible. According to the company's data, the Ether Graphical Card (GPU) miner Ether (ETH) had seen its profits poor at $ 0 in November, falling from around $ 150 during the summer of 2017. The representative of Susquehanna Christopher Rolland told CNBC that even with Nvidia the flagship hardware offering, the GTX 1080, the return on investment (ROI) provided is not financially advantageous.

Related reading: AMD estimates poor Q4 when the demand for Crypto Mining graphics cards decreases

Although Susquehanna's data have been disproved since then, with smarter analysts claiming that Ethereum's extraction is going well and dandy, a recently released report claims that the true death of the GPU miners could really be behind # 39; angle. Han Yoon, the CEO of the multi-faceted startup of Crypto Lunar Digital Assets, participated in his personal Medium blog on Tuesday to touch on the upcoming update of Constantinople by Ethereum, scheduled for January 16th.

I have just published an in-depth article concerning the imminent deformations and the economic and centralization repercussions that may have on the future of #Ethereum. Someone published the article on r / Ethereum and was trending at # 4 on the first page, but the mods decided to censor it.

– Han #TeamLunar (@hanyoon) 9 January 2019

For those who have not complied with the reminder, the non-contentious hard fork, supported by exchanges and developers in general, will implement short-term resizing solutions, while reducing the emission of Ether by a third party. Although scaling protocols are undoubtedly beneficial, particularly for Ethereum's planned Serenity upgrade chronology, the dramatic change in issuance has attracted industry attention.

Considering the simple question and demand economy and the historical Ethereum issuance program, many commentators praised Constantinople as a positive catalyst for the value of ETH.

The End Of Ethereum GPU Mining "may very well be on us"

However, Yoon begged to disagree. After a thorough analysis of Ether's status in the wider mining kingdom, in which he claimed that the gold days of the GPU's extraction are now in the rear mirror, the lunar head broke the likely impact of Constantinople .

Yoon noted that at present, the GPU Ethereum Miners operate on extremely fine margins, with a $ 2,000 plant generating only $ 20 / week at average electricity tariffs. The researcher has continued to notice that this already depressing situation is "everything ready to change". Although he has praised block premium reductions, such as the half-life of Bitcoin or events of a similar size on the Ethereum chain, as "economically advantageous," Yoon noted this called "third" could not happen at a worse time.

He explained that in an environment where miners are "already on the fence [about] whether mine or not, "the third degree could by itself" move them away from the mines of Ethereum. "The lunar chief added that with the rise of ASICs ethash, Ethereum, once thought to be an oasis in a sea of ​​ASIC miners token, will only see this form of mining hardware propagating en masse. he noted that this controversial thematic development will be accentuated only by Constantinople.

And while companies like Bitmain, which have struggled in recent months, could celebrate the potential increase in popularity of their machines Ethhash, Yoon noted that the reduction of Constantinople will not benefit all participants in this ecosystem. Yoon wrote:

"The departure of thousands of miners from Ethereum will have knock-on effects in the entire mining sector … The simple economy tells us that this will replace many miners of the GPU, further consolidating the power of the ASIC miners."

Not only a haircut in the number of active miners, which in turn would drive the lower hahrate in turn, would damage Ether's underlying value proposition, but would also drastically increase the centralization induced by ASIC.

Yoon also noted that switching to the community-sponsored ProgPoW, which would turn Ethhash ASICs into expensive paperweight, would not do much to help GPU miners. He explained that if ProfPoW was approved, it would take "precious months to implement" and would probably only cause logistical headaches for industry participants. In closing, he wrote:

"It's a bit sad to think that the most influential cryptocurrency for GPU extraction can come close to the end for most miners, unless core developers do not act quickly, Ethereum It will no longer be known as the "go-to" miner's GPU coin.Ethereum will be an ASIC currency.The GPU extraction will not be the same.The end of the Ethereum extraction, as we know, is threatened Significantly, the beginning of the end of Ethereum GPU mining could be very close to us. "

However, other analysts, such as Alex Krüger, are convinced that over time Ethereum will actually grow due to Constantinople rather than suffer. He argued that, in the long run, the prize for the blockade of Aether "the third" will be "decidedly bullish".

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