With $30 billion on the line,
all eyes are likely to be on ethereum tomorrow as it seeks to navigate one of
its biggest-ever updates.
Will all software users
upgrade to the updated blockchain? Or will a new, competing token be created?
That's exactly what the market is watching and waiting to see when etheruem
hits block 4,370,000, scheduled to occur tomorrow at around 6:00 UTC at press
time.
The first part of a larger,
multi-part upgrade, the so-called "Byzantium" code will make the
blockchain lighter and faster, paving the way for better decentralized
applications (dapps), while also enhancing network privacy.
New features aside, however,
ethereum developers are mostly optimistic about the upgrade. Although
developers on the most popular clients have had to iron out a pair of bugs in
the days leading up to change, there's confidence that the upgrade will be
smooth.
New and seasoned investors
won't likely want to take others' word for it, however. So, if you're eager to
see for yourself, here's how to monitor the update in real time:
Fork countdown
Adding uncertainty to hard
forks is their reliance on block numbers as a way to signal upgrades. Simply
put, rather than have everyone change their software at a specific time, users
rely on the numbered blocks in the blockchain itself as a means of
coordinating.
Because of this, no one knows
exactly when the hard fork will take place. Yet, that doesn't mean there's no
way to keep an eye out.
To track when this block
number will be hit, Singapore-based smart contract company CodeTract has
released a fork countdown, showing how many blocks remain and roughly, how much
time is left until the fork occurs.
By current projections, the
hard fork looks like it will execute on early Monday.
Mining hashrate
Once the fork happens, users
will want to track how much of the ethereum ecosystem moves over, and how
quickly they do so.
This is a key metric to track.
As long as miners are mining on the old version of ethereum, it will remain
operational (and valuable). If that persists for long enough, it could lead to
a split (although ethereum developers think this is unlikely due to specifics
in the code).
Developers aren't going in
blind either – already, the Byzantium code has undergone testing to give an
idea of how the fork would play out. For example, earlier this week, all minerson a test version of the network made the migration, a small (but encouraging)
sign of what to expect.
The best way to watch this is
on the Ethereum Foundation's website, which will show what percentage of
ethereum miners that have moved over to the new blockchain when the fork
happens.
Nodes
But, miners are not the only
stakeholders in ethereum who need to upgrade; developers, users and companies
running nodes, which store a full copy of the ledger, also need to download new
software or risk falling behind.
Ether Nodes tracks how many
node operators are running clients compatible with Byzantium.
Geth, the most popular ethereum
client, released fork-ready software in version 1.7.2. And Parity, the second
most popular client, released 1.7.6, which is compatible and fixes some
consensus bugs.
Right now, 60 percent of Geth
nodes and 27 percent of Parity nodes have upgraded to a hard fork-compatible
version. With under a day left before the fork, most node operators still need
to upgrade.
Price
Of course, there may be more
immediate reasons you're worried about a split.
If money's on the mind, you
can always be sure to monitor the price of ether. For that, you can turn to our
ethereum price page, which will update in real time as the fork happens.
Source: Coindesk
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