Gray Glacier Upgrade Successfully Implemented on Ethereum Network as the Merge Approaches

 Gray Glacier upgrade has been successfully executed on the Ethereum network. With this network upgrade, the difficulty bomb has been delayed by a further 700000 blocks or approximately 100 days,  to the middle of September.

Gray Glacier Upgrade

The Gray Glacier network upgrade which was initially scheduled for June 29 was later carried out on June 30 at the block height of 15,050,000 by Ethereum Core developers.

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This completed network upgrade further indicates the adoption of the Ethereum Improvement Proposal, EIP-5133 created on June 1 by Tomasz Kajetan Stanczak, Eric Marti Haynes, Josh Klopfenstein, and Abhimanyu Nag.

As aforementioned, the Gray Glacier upgrade is a type of network upgrade that changes the parameters of the Ice Age or Difficulty Bomb, pushing it back by 700,000 blocks, or roughly 100 days.

Following the recent transition of Ropsten to proof-of-stake, the difficulty bomb now only affects the Ethereum mainnet. In consequence, Gray Glacier was not deployed on any testnet.

Meanwhile, the difficulty bomb is a piece of code that increases the difficulty of mining Ethereum (ETH) for miners.

Related: Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum (ETH) Will Continue Becoming a More Mature Blockchain Ecosystem

Implications of Gray Glacier Upgrade

This upgrade primarily concerns Ethereum node operators or miners. As an Ethereum user or ETH holder, using either an exchange, a web wallet service, a mobile wallet service, or a hardware wallet, you do not need to do anything unless you are informed to take additional steps by your exchange or wallet service. 

On the other hand, as a node operator or miner, it is mandatory to update your Ethereum client versions accordingly to be compatible with the upgrade.

Meanwhile, failure to update Ethereum client versions to the provided latest versions will hinder such miners or node operators from operating on the Gray Glacier upgraded Ethereum network.

Read Also: Ethereum’s The Merge Goes Live on Ropsten Test Network, Vitalik Buterin Reacts

The Merge

Interestingly, this upgrade was named Gray Glacier because the upgrade merges into another glacier, just like how Ethereum’s execution layer will soon undergo the Merge with the Beacon Chain. 

On June 8, the Ropsten Testnet was successfully merged with the Beacon Chain.  According to the team, this was the final test before Ethereum Mainnet undergoes the actual Merge, later this year.

After the Merge, the Ethereum blockchain will be operating on a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm.

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