ambcrypto.com
Programmatic Proof-of-Work [ProgPow] has undoubtedly been one of the most controversial upgrades of Ethereum. The algorithm that promises to ward off ASIC mining would probably not make it till after the Istanbul hardfork. A blog post titled ‘ProgPow Audit Delay Issue’ published by Hudson Jameson, a member of EF, stated that they encountered problems with ProgPow audit.
Hudson Jameson explained the situation,
“We had a hardware partner who specialized in ASICs who was going to work with Least Authority to perform the hardware parts of the audit. They are no longer participating in the audit so we are looking for other auditors for the hardware portion.”
Further, Jameson stated that there were “some good candidates” to fill in the position, however, it would “effectively delay” the start of the audit even further than what they had anticipated. This was the sole reason the team was uncertain whether the audit would be ready before the Istanbul hardfork.
Along with this, the member also spoke about the funding pertaining to ProgPow miner, where he remarked,
“On top of that I am not sure if anyone has sorted the funding situation in order to build an open source ProgPoW miner.”
Due to these problems, Hudson presented two options, first, delay “ProgPoW until the hardfork after Istanbul”, and second, let ProgPow have its own hardfork once the audit was completed. Hudson further stated that “this was not an ideal situation at all, but despite our best efforts, it is what we have before us”.
McDogger, a Redditor said,
“I personally would prefer a third option (stop with the audits, drop progpow and spend time/ money on Eth 1.x finality) but if I had to chose than it’s certainly option 1. Progpow […] doesn’t deserve it’s own – contentious, because it’s just one change and not many other improvements – hardfork.”
The initial announcement was made on Ethereum Cat Herders Update #9, where Pooja Ranjan, a EF member, stated that “logistical issues” were the reason for the delay of ProgPow audit, adding that the timeline for the start and end of the audit were not even decided yet.