Ethereum Devs Delay Mining Algorithm Change
Developers who are helping in the creation of the Ethereum protocol are reportedly going to hold off on a decision to submit code. The latter, in particular, would throttle the advantage brought by high-powered ASC miners competing for the rewards on the network.
Going For Audits Instead
During a recent public call, a tentative decision came into existence. This eventually resulted in the move of postponing the so-called ProgPow upgrade, as the developers favored the move to conduct continued audits. These noteworthy developers include, but not limited to, Afri Schodedon, Danno Ferrin, Hudson Jameson, Greg Colvin, and Martin Holst Swende.
As for the aforementioned audits, which are basically third-parties, they are going to verify that the implementation of the algorithm will significantly reduce the ASIC efficiency. And if this is achieved, it will enable them to become a little bit less competitive when compared to GPUs. It is worth noting that GPUs are considered to be the most consumer-friendly and cheapest mining technology.
Apparently, though, a handful of participants during the call put forward their disappointment. They even provided their own opinions towards the decision of whether or not the algorithm must be activated.
The decision is basically rooted from a push meant to avoid a consolidation in the significant number of participants, all of whom are expected to verify all transactions on the altcoin Ethereum. If implemented accordingly, the algorithm would reportedly allow for a good number of miners to be able to participate in the network.
No Timeline Yet
A communications officer from the Ethereum Foundation named James said that having a third-party audit will result in answering a lot of questions. Most of these, too, are what the community has been dying to know about the update.
Software engineer by the name of Ferrin said that audits will provide them with substantial data, especially on how the update itself will bring notable impact to Ethereum that what is currently available right now. However, he mentioned that it is impossible for now to put up a timeline. They could not just figure out when the audits will finally conclude. James, on the other hand, expects everything to be done and ready between March and April.
Separately, all of the developers agreed that there is a need to gather more input from the ETH community. After all, they have yet to explore all the possibilities, especially the ones that would concern feedback from the community.