Update of Ethereum with Constantinople: what to expect and what you need to know

The upgrade of the Hardereum Ethereum (ETH) will be activated at block number 7.080.000, which should be extracted between January 15 and January 17, 2019. Defined as Constantinople, the hard fork of Ethereum will consist in several modifications to the basic code specified by five different ethereum proposals for improvement (EIP).

What's a hard fork?

A hard fork is an upgrade incompatible with previous versions, somewhat similar to how updates are performed on applications such as Microsoft Word. For example, an older version of the word processing program may not be able to read and display all characters and fonts in a file created using the latest version of MS Word.

Full-node operators, also known as transaction validators, are required to update their clients to the latest version of the Ethereum software – which will be available when Constantinople is available in the coming days.

Why do we refer to updates as fork?

Updates to cryptocurrency platforms are called forks because they are similar to a bifurcation in which a single chain of blocks is separated into two chains. One of the chains can be used by people who want to keep playing with the old set of rules or who can not update their nodes. In the meantime, the other chain is used by those starting to follow the new or updated set of rules.

In most cases, transaction validators stop running previous versions of the cryptocurrency client software and switch to the latest version. After switching to the updated blockchain network, the miners stop adding new blocks to the old chain. This usually leads the old chain to slow down and fall asleep.

If a fork is argumentative (in the sense that there are individuals or organizations that do not want to be made certain modifications to the existing chain), then a blockchain network could split into two separate, active networks after the fork.

Five different proposals for improvement of Ethereum

The two active blockchains also have their coins. This is how the bitcoin network (BTC) was bifurcated to produce a separate bitcoin cash blockchain (BCH) on August 1, 2017. When Ethereum went through a difficult fork after the DAO attack, the & rsquo; upgrade produced two different cryptocurrencies: ethereum classic (ETC) and ether (ETH).

The series of updates planned for Ethereum, with Constantinople, is not controversial because all participants in the network have agreed to activate the five EIPs listed below:

• EIP 145 – cheaper and more efficient approach to information processing (adding bitwise shift operators to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM);
• EIP 1014: better approach to accommodate network scalability solutions such as off-line transactions;
• EIP 1052: an improvement in the way contracts are processed;
• EIP1234 – 12-month delay of the difficulty bomb; reduce mining premiums from 3 ETH to 2 ETH per block;
• EIP 1283: a better way to monetize data storage changes (created by smart contract programmers)

Here is a link to an explanatory video on all the EIPs mentioned above (except EIP 1283). Here is where users can keep track of all the progress related to Constantinople.

The confirmation times of the blocks should remain at approximately 15 seconds. When Ethereum passes to proof-of-stake (PoS) in another separate hard fork, transaction processing times can improve. It is currently unclear whether the average cost of transactions on Ethereum will change, but transaction fees associated with the issue of smart contracts may decline as some of the EIPs aim to optimize transactions related to the smart contract.

Exchanges and other cryptographic services must be updated

Although transaction settlement times can not change immediately after Constantinople activation, state channel optimizations performed with EIP-1024 may allow better second-level solutions to be implemented. These can be provided by platforms such as OmiseGo, Loom Network and Raiden.

To adapt to the changes required for the updating of Constantinople, exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, among others, will have to update their nodes. Other cryptographic services such as MyCrypto, Trust Wallet, MetaMask and Etherscan will also have to update their nodes.

Ether (ETH) holders will not have to do anything to prepare for the Ethereum update and changes to the software to be activated with Constantinople will not, for the most part, be visible to users.