Latest fork will take Ether further away from proof of work

What

The Arrow Glacier upgrade to the Ethereum network is planned for this week  

Why

It should move the network away from being a proof of work-based system

What next

This fork gives developers more time to work on Ethereum 2.0

The Story

This week should see the release of the latest fork to the Ethereum network, called Arrow Glacier.

It is nowhere near as large as previous forks, but quite important, as it tackles a element of the network called the difficulty bomb and gives developers time to keep working on the major upgrade, Ethereum 2.0.

When Ethereum was put together in 2015, its developers were very conscious of steering the network away from being a proof of work enterprise like Bitcoin, which requires ever more computing power and energy as it mines for new coins. Instead it is heading for proof of stake, where coin holders can lock up their ETH in the network and in exchange receive newly minted ETH in proportion with their contribution without needing super-powered computers.

The intention of Ethereum 2.0 is to put an end to these almost monthly updates and make the network more future-proof. Tim Beiko, who coordinates the network’s core developers, wrote last week, “Hopefully, this is the last time the difficulty bomb is delayed before Ethereum’s transition to proof of stake!”

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