What is Ethereum’s Gray Glacier Upgrade?

- Gray Glacier Upgrade is Ethereum’s network update that took place at block 15,050,000 at the end of June.
- The upgrade pushed back the difficulty bomb by approximately 700,000 blocks and 100 days, which will be around the time the Merge is expected to happen.
- The difficulty bomb is a piece of code that exponentially increases the difficulty of mining Ethereum (ETH) till the Ice Age is reached.
- Ice Age is the point at which the Ethereum network becomes so difficult to mine and ceases to produce blocks forcing the miners to stop their work on the proof-of-work chain and paving the way for the full shift to proof-of-stake
- The purpose of the Gray Glacier update includes avoiding making Ethereum’s network un-minable or slowing down the block dramatically while Eth 2.0 is not ready.

Keywords: Network upgrade, Gray Glacier, Difficulty Bomb, Merge, Proof-of-stake.

The Ethereum blockchain is currently undergoing a paradigm shift. The new climax is the Gray Glacier upgrade which took place at block 15,050,000 last month. The upgrade served to push back the Difficulty Bomb by approximately 100 days. This delay of the difficulty bomb from the earlier plan in June will push it to around September or October when the much-awaited “Merge” is expected to happen.


Merge is the fusion of the Eth. 1.0 is the execution layer, with the Beacon Chain the transaction layer, which marks the transition of Ethereum’s consensus mechanism from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.


What is a Network Upgrade in Ethereum?

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A network upgrade is a way to create new rules that change the underlying protocol in Ethereum and improve the system. Network upgrade in a decentralized system such as Ethereum requires the agreement and cooperation with the developers of various Ethereum clients as well as the community. The community must come to an agreement on the proposed changes to the protocol before these changes are written into Ethereum’s clients like Nethermind, Erigon, and Besu. The changes to the protocol come to life at a particular block number. The node operators will be required to download the latest version of their Ethereum client. Else they will be stuck on an incompatible chain following the old rules.


What is Gray Glacier Upgrade?

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The Gray Glacier upgrade is an update that took place at a block height of 15,050,000. In Ethereum’s network, upgrades that delay the difficulty bomb/ice age goes by the name glacier. Gray Glacier is Ethereum’s network hard fork that merges into the earlier glacier upgrades to improve the system. It is the so-called Gray Glacier because it merges with other Glaciers. The Gray Glacier is meant to delay the Difficulty Bomb. The implication of this delay is that developers can now expect the full transition to “proof-of-stake” to take place later than planned. Gray Glacier pushed back the difficulty bomb for an additional 700,000 blocks, and it would not detonate until around September or October.
The new rules and changes to the protocol at the instance of the Gray Glacier upgrade require the node operators to update to the latest version. Failure to do that will make it impossible for the node operators to send transactions on the post-upgrade network.


What is Difficulty Bomb?

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Difficulty bomb is a piece of code that exponentially increases the difficulty of mining Ethereum (ETH). The gradual increase in difficulty dampens the enthusiasm of miners to continue their operation till the Ice Age is reached. Ice Age is the point at which the Ethereum network becomes so difficult to mine and ceases to produce blocks. Following this freezing point, miners will not be able to go on mining the proof-of-work. The network will, therefore, transition into Eth 2.0, the updated proof-of-stake.
Pushing back the difficulty bomb gives the developers more time to prepare for the MergeMerge so that the network does not become minable before Eth 2.0 is ready. The difficulty bomb has been delayed a few times as the developers work to ensure a seamless shift to a new consensus mechanism. The five network upgrades in which the difficulty bomb has been pushed back are Byzantium, Constantinople, Muir Glacier, London, and Arrow Glacier in December 2021.


Effects of the Gray Glacier Upgrade

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1. Gray Glacier is a hard fork that is meant to change the underlying rules of Ethereum’s protocol and improve the system.
2. The update pushed back the difficulty bomb giving Ethereum developers more time to run tests and ensure the MergeMerge of Eth 1.0 and Eth 2.0 goes smoothly.
3. Gray Glacier serves to avoid making Ethereum’s network un-minable or slowing down the block dramatically, while Eth 2.0 is not ready.
4. It is meant to show a good signal that the network is trying to get the MergeMerge right knowing that there’s so much at stake with huge funds deposited on the proof-of-stake chain betting on the success.


Conclusion

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The Gray Glacier upgrade and delay of the difficulty bomb have further raised the question of the timing of the real MergeMerge. When the Merge went live on the Ropsten testnet at the beginning of June, Vitalik Buterin and some Ethereum developers predicted the transition could happen as early as August this year. The Gray Glacier upgrade, however, means that it is unlikely the earlier schedule will be met. The updated EIP -5133 points to mid-September as a new timeframe for the implementation of the proof-of-stake mechanism. Yet, no timeline is certain.






Author: Gate.io Observer: M. Olatunji
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