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In a few hours, block number 12,965,000 will be mined on the Ethereum network and the ‘ London Hard Fork ’ upgrade will be implemented. As of writing this post, the data from Etherscan shows that block 12,963,799 just got added to the network.
A lot of hype has been doing the rounds since this upgrade was announced. The hype became even more resounding over the past couple of weeks.
In this post, we will explore what these hard fork upgrades mean for the network. We will explore all the major hard fork upgrades to the Ethereum network since its inception, and the corresponding impact on the prices.
Layman’s language for the definition of Fork: Blockchain networks such as Ethereum have a community. This community agrees or disagrees with a change in the network. It is often done to ensure that the network functions as smoothly as possible. In some cases, these hard forks are implemented to protect the network against potential harm, which we will subsequently discuss.
Types of forks
Codebase Forks : Copy of the original code, to allow for minor tweaks without developing the whole blockchain code from scratch.
Blockchain Forks : Branching or splitting a blockchain’s whole transaction history, causing the new network to develop a distinct identity.
Soft Forks : Gradual software upgrades—bug fixes, security checks, and new features.
Hard Forks : A permanent modification on the blockchain
We will discuss the Hard Forks that have occurred since the inception of the Ethereum network.
✔ Ice Age : It was implemented on September 8, 2015
In order to guarantee to switch from PoW to PoS within 16 months after Ethereum’s initial release, an exponential difficulty increase was added that would noticeably slow down new blocks being mined after about a year. After that time, the network would reach an “Ice Age,” where the difficulty would exponentially increase until it would be too high for anyone to find a block.
The Ice Age gets manually delayed by a subsequent hard fork every time.
Price saw an approximate 10% jump prior to the upgrade
✔ Homestead : It was implemented in March 15, 2016
It went live at block number 1,150,000. ETH's price jumped more than 1477% in the first 3 months of 2016. 14.77x return to investors in a matter of 3 months!
✔ The DAO : It went live on July 20, 2016
This upgrade was to save the network from further damage. A vulnerability on the network allowed an exploiter to walk away with 3.6 million ETH. To fix this vulnerability, the DAO hard fork was implemented. It also created the well-known cousin of Ethereum, the ETC or Ethereum Classic.
✔ Constantinople AKA St. Petersburg : It was implemented in February 28, 2019
Price dropped more than 16% from the recent peak.
✔ Atlantis : It was implemented on September 12, 2019
This September 2019 hard fork event required all software users to upgrade their clients in order to stay with the current network. Enhancements included better security, stability, and network performance for higher volumes of traffic.
✔ London Hard Fork : It will be implemented on August 5, 2021
EIP-1559 aims to strengthen the ecosystem of Ethereum — which is known for its smart contract capabilities that power DeFi, or decentralized finance, apps and NFTs, or non-fungible tokens among other improvements.
( Have added the image to the analysis, so that it can be downloaded and referenced)
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