The Ethereum Network will undergo a hard fork soon. Block number 4.37mil (4.370,000).This event will likely take place between 12:00 UTC – 13:00 UTC. Monday, October 16, 2017. The Ropsten Testnet already experienced a fork on September 19 (UTC), block number 1.7 000 (1,700,000.000). A countdown clock can be seen at https://fork.codetract.io/.
What Should I Do as a User?
Make sure you have the latest version of your Ethereum client:
What If I Use an Ethereum Mobile Wallet such as MyEtherWallet or web-based or mobile wallet Jaxx?
Ethereum Websites and mobile apps offering users the ability to store Ethereum and handle their own transactions and/or manage their own Ethereum business need to have a client infrastructure in place. If You are using a third-party mobile or web-based Ethereum wallet, your wallet provider might need to update for the hard fork. It is recommended that you check with them to find out what steps they are taking for updating for the hard fork and if they have any other requests.
What Makes Hard Forks Difficult in Ethereum?
A hard fork refers to a change in the underlying Ethereum protocol, a new set of rules which are created to improve the system. Protocol A certain block number triggers the changes. All Ethereum Clients must be updated, or they will stay stuck in the incompatible chain following the old rules.
What Will Happen If I Refuse to Participate in the Hard Fork?
If You are using an Ethereum Client that is not up-to-date in time for the upcoming hardfork, it will be synchronized with the pre-fork blockchain post-hardfork. You’ll You will be stuck with an incompatible chain that violates the rules of the old ruleset. There is no replay protection for the mainnet. Although Old clients can create transactions, they will not be in a position to view the results of those transactions.
What is Metropolis, Byzantium and Constantinople?
Metropolis is the stage of development that is currently in the planning phase. This includes two hard forks, Byzantium and Constantinople. Byzantium is set to occur at block number 4.37 000. Although Constantinople does not have an official release date yet, it is likely to be released in 2018.
What Changes Are Included in the Byzantium Hard Fork?
The following upgrades have been added:
- Addition of the ‘REVERT opcode to handle errors without using all the gas.FOOT 140)
- Transaction receipts now include a status section to indicate success or failure. FOOT 658)
- Elliptic Curve addition and scalar multiplication in alt_bn128FOOT 196) and matching checks (FOOT 197), enabling ZK-Snarks and other mathemagic™ cryptography
- Support for large modular exponentiation integersFOOT 198), which enables RSA signature verification and other cryptographic applications
- Support for variable length return values (FOOT 211)
- Addition of the ‘STATICCALL opcode which allows calls that don’t change state to other contracts.FOOT 214)
- Difficulty Adjustment formulas can be modified to account for Uncles (FOOT 100)
- Delayed Ice age