Ethereum's ‘Difficulty Bomb' Delay Is Bad News for Revamp
Ethereum’s big transition to a more energy efficient system that developers have been promising for years could be kicked down the road yet again as they plan to delay a so-called difficulty bomb that’s designed to slowly boot miners off the blockchain.
The difficulty bomb, which is a special code that’s always been a part of Ethereum, swiftly increases the computing difficulty of mining the underlying token, eventually making it impossible to do so. When the bomb goes off and is allowed to run its course, it’s an indication that the days until the so-called Merge -- Ethereum’s switch to the proof-of-stake system for ordering transactions -- are numbered. In proof of stake, people stake coins to order the transaction, a process which is supposed to consume 99% less power.
Developers decided to delay the difficulty bomb on Friday after they discussed ironing out various bugs they’ve discovered when they ran the software for the Merge on Ropsten, one of the oldest testnets of the network. While developers hadn’t officially set a particular date for the Merge -- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said it could happen as soon as August if there are no major issues -- the decision to push back the difficulty bomb raises fears that the much-anticipated upgrade could take more time.
“Delaying it gives you time,” said Thomas Jay Rush, a participant in the call. “It looks bad to the community, but there’s nothing you can do about that.”
The difficulty bomb had been delayed multiple times before. Though it went off this month, developers are planning to disable it and then deploy it again at another time. It is unclear when they’d do so. Many hoped it wouldn’t have to be delayed, as the Merge would happen soon.
The Merge could be
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