Developers working on the latest Ethereum upgrade, Berlin, have announced that it’s ready to roll out.
Lead developer Tim Beiko has posted an update regarding the upcoming Ethereum Berlin network protocol upgrade. Deployment to the mainnet is slated for April 14.
Before that happens, the code must be updated on Ethereum’s testnets with the first, Ropsten, rolling out on March 10.
The upgrade follows the Istanbul and Muir Glacier upgrades and is scheduled to go live on the Ethereum mainnet at block 12244000.
Node operators will need to update their client software before the mainnet launch but ETH holders do not need to take any action. It warned of potential scams targeting popular crypto wallets such as MetaMask or Ledger.
EIPs Galore
The Berlin upgrade introduces a number of Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) to the network. The Ethereum Cat Herders have posted a detailed summary of what each one entails.
EIP-2565 lowers the gas cost of a previous cryptographic algorithm-based proposal. On the other hand, EIP-2929 increases gas costs for certain ‘opcodes’, preventing network spam. The Cat Herders elaborated:
“The rationale for raising these gas costs is mitigating the largest remaining DoS attack vector in Ethereum. It is also a stepping stone towards bounding witness sizes in the context of stateless Ethereum.”
EIP-2718 introduces a new transaction type that is an envelope to enable easier support for multiple transaction types. It added that in the future ‘fun features’ like someone else paying for gas or multi-signature transactions can be added more easily.
EIP-2930 adds a transaction type to mitigate some of the gas costs associated with EIP-2929.
The highly anticipated EIP-1559 isn’t included in the Berlin upgrade. This proposal alters the network fee mechanism by burning some of the gas. It should ship with the following London upgrade in July at the earliest.
Ethereum Price Outlook
Ethereum prices are normally unaffected by protocol updates like Berlin. ETH has retreated 3.5% since its daily open, trading at $1,806 at the time of press.
Over the past week, ETH has gained almost 20% in a near full recovery from the market correction which dropped prices as low as $1,300. Support currently lies at $1,730 while there is resistance at the $1,850 level.
Disclaimer
All the information contained on our website is published in good faith and for general information purposes only. Any action the reader takes upon the information found on our website is strictly at their own risk.