Ethereum After Constantinople and St. Petersburg – What to Expect Next?

The Ethereum Community took to Twitter and Gitter to count down with blocks instead of clocks like it is done during the New Year’s Eve. Excitement flowed over computer terminals when the Ethereum blockchain performed the much anticipated hard fork. The event happened at block 7,280,000 at 7.52pm UTC on February 28.

Ethereum is now ready for the next evolution stage. With these developments, it is expected to become stronger, faster, and more accessible to more developers and users.

This fork is termed by many commentators as a major step to split away from the computationally-intensive “Proof-of-Work” consensus model. It is expected to move towards the more scalable “Proof-of-Stake” model.

Lower Supply

The major software updates are expected to reduce Ethereum’s supply as predicted by many traders, analysts, and commentators. The upgrade is meant to cut costs, reduce interaction complexities, and reduce communications challenges on its blockchain. Also, the two so-called “hard forks” will give miners fewer incentives to spend time and energy producing fresh coins.

Mati Greenspan, a senior eToro analyst, believes that the supply and demand equation will be altered considerably. Reduced supply may cause price movements across the major crypto markets since these prices tend to be highly correlated. The recent six-day rally in bitcoin is partially linked to a drop in the number of fresh Ethereum.

Ethereum appreciated by almost 30% in February compared to bitcoin’s 12% gains.

According to the blockchain analytics website Amberdata, the “Constantinople” and “St. Petersburg” upgrades that kicked in at approximately 1945 GMT on February 28. Ethereum is produced when miners solve algorithmic puzzles in an expensive highly energy-intensive process.

In the past, each puzzle or ‘block’ is worth three Ethereum coins. However, the fork at block number 7,280,000 cuts down the coins received to two for every puzzle solved. The consensus among the ETH developers means that it is highly unlikely for a rival coin to emerge due to the hard fork.

Relief

The highly anticipated Constantinople happened successfully after it had been postponed three times in the past. Ethereum has undergone seven forks previously. Constantinople features the first mainnet hard fork in almost two years. Lane Rettig, the Ethereum core developer, was relieved and excited about the success of the upgrade.

The Ethereum project managers spent several months leading to the upgrade guaranteeing that miners and all node operators were installing the newly available client software to update the new chain at exactly the same block number. The community expects user-friendly services with the event now declared successful.

Enhancement Proposals

Previously, Constantinople was postponed after the discovery of weaknesses in its underlying code. As a result, developers were cautious as Constantinople approached. Nick Johnson, a core developer, said that challenges may arise later after the split but they were sure no problems would arise during the time of the split.

The upgrade features four Ethereum Improvement Proposals (or EIPs). Among them is one that makes sure the blockchain never freezes before Proof of Stake. The more energy-efficient and effective form of consensus was launched for implementation. The developers will continue to monitor the progress in the coming days and months to ensure no unexpected problems arise.

However, the general blockchain community is buzzing with the possibilities for smart contracts and dApps that now await them.

The Reactions

Many in the blockchain world were thrilled by this hardfork. Most are marvelled by the many opportunities and possibilities that this upgrade brings. Among the most notable supporters is Lisk whose founder, Max Kordek, took to Twitter to congratulate Vitalik Buterin and the entire Ethereum team for the successful Constantinople upgrade.

Congratulations @VitalikButerin and the whole Ethereum team for the successful Constantinople upgrade. At @LiskHQ we had our first planned hard fork last year and are aware of the involved difficulties. We all know there are many more hard forks ahead, let's keep innovating! ⛓

— Max Kordek (@MaxKordek) March 1, 2019

Lisk had their first planned hard fork in 2018 and they acknowledged the difficulties involved in these types of upgrades. More hard forks are expected in the future as the blockchain innovation ecosystem evolves.

Ethereum Emergence and Evolution

Vitalik Buterin entered the crypto space around 2011 when it was known just as the ‘Bitcoin space.’ He got quite interested and co-founded the ‘Bitcoin Magazine’ and followed the evolution of the largest crypto by market capitalization for two years. Vitalik dropped out of the university to join the crypto space fulltime and soon after that he realized that there were more things that blockchain can do apart from supporting a single peer-to-peer currency.

He soon came up with the idea behind Ethereum that featured a blockchain with a built-in programming language. Vitalik aimed to come up with the simplest and most logical way to develop a platform that could be used for many more added applications. The biggest issue with bitcoin that he was trying to fix with Ethereum is limited functionality.

The Ethereum platform has evolved ever since with the latest upgrades meant to cut costs, reduce interaction complexities, and reduce communications challenges on its blockchain.

The Future

The successful Constantinople and St. Petersburg upgrades and the positive sentiments which are all around the asset might attract more buying power and exposure for Ethereum it self.

The future for ETH seems never-ending as much anticipated ETH 2.0 is on the approaching also. The synergy between the latest Constantinople and St. Petersburg upgrades and the Ethereum 2.0 developments might bring Ethereum to the heights we have never experienced before.

The List of Ethereum 2.0 Phases