EIP1559 date "basically finalized", London hard fork upgrade is expected to be implemented on August 4

The next major upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain, the London hard fork, will likely take place at block 12,965,000, expected on August 4, rather than mid-July as previously suggested.

The block height was officially proposed today on Github by Ethereum developer Tim Beiko, a network upgrade expert at the Ethereum Foundation. If the various Ethereum client teams — the teams that write the various software entry points for the blockchain — do not object to the proposal, then this block height will be recognized as the official target height.

The date provides enough time for multiple test networks to complete the integration and ensure that there are no issues with the code. An error occurred during a hard fork upgrade in April this year, which caused about 12% of the computers on the Ethereum blockchain to temporarily be unable to sync to the network.

Beiko said:

“Before committing to a date for the mainnet upgrade, we wanted to see how the testnet upgrade went. Now that two-thirds of the testnets have successfully upgraded (the last testnet is executing tomorrow), we are confident in setting a date for the mainnet upgrade.”
The so-called London hard fork, named after the city where the second annual Ethereum developer conference was held in 2015, is intended to bring the blockchain network into a deflationary future.

Hard forks like these are essentially software upgrades that incorporate multiple Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), changes to the code proposed by anyone in the community and then agreed upon by stakeholders, including developers and “miners” who validate and process transactions by running the Ethereum blockchain.

The main component of the London hard fork is the controversial EIP-1559. The EIP, proposed by Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin and others, changes the way miners are compensated. Currently, miners are rewarded with new coins, as well as transaction fees paid by people for using the network.

However, once EIP-1559 is implemented via the London hard fork, miners can no longer count on revenue from transaction fees, although users can still pay "tips" to miners to ensure their transactions are processed quickly. Instead, users will pay a base fee that goes directly to the network and is burned or removed from circulation. This will lead to "deflationary pressure", which may increase asset prices.

Miners are divided on the issue. Some call it “wealth redistribution,” while others see it as a way to increase the value of the ETH they receive. Regardless, EIP-1559 is coming. “Assuming no one has major objections, we’ll hold it on August 4,” Beiko said.