Ethereum mining may usher in major changes, core developers tentatively plan to upgrade ProgPoW in July to resist ASIC mining machines

Ethereum core developers are working on an improvement using ProgPoW, an update that makes Ethereum mining more ASIC-resistant. According to the latest news, the hard fork required to complete this improvement has been tentatively scheduled for July.

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Recently, Ethereum core developers have once again reached a consensus on implementing the ProgPoW upgrade. The hard fork is scheduled to take place within three weeks after EIP-1962. EIP-1962 is a non-controversial update that will add additional cryptographic features to Ethereum. EIP-1962 is tentatively scheduled to go live sometime in June.

Core developers support ProgPoW

This is the third time that ethereum core developers have discussed and agreed to implement ProgPoW. Core developers appear to support the improvement, although a minority say it has the potential to divide the community.

Developers are aware that the ProgPoW hard fork is “contentious.” Some are concerned that exchanges may run versions of Ethereum using both the old and new mining algorithms (creating a new fork of Ethereum) to maximize platform fee revenue. This would divide the community.

Ethereum hard fork coordinator James Hancock said a split was not possible. He said ProgPoW was the “most ready” Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP).

“I don’t see any evidence that there is an ideology or a desire to split the network. If I’m wrong, I will resign as hard fork coordinator,” Hancock said.

Ethereum has already split once, as some may remember. “TheDAO,” the first attempt at a so-called decentralized autonomous organization, was used to steal 3.6 million ETH using a smart contract vulnerability. The core developers eventually decided to implement a hard fork to return the stolen ETH to those affected. Those who disagreed with this approach established Ethereum Classic (ETC), and Ethereum split.

Clear opposition to ProgPoW

However, at least two influential project leaders are against ProgPoW. SpankChain CEO Ameen Soleimani and Gnosis founder (also an OpenEthereum maintainer) have expressed opposition to the upgrade.

The executives were invited to voice their objections at the next core developer meeting. However, core developer Hudson Jameson said this would not change the team’s decision:

“There will be a lot of time for public objections, but it won’t really change the decision because we’ve already gone back and forth twice to approve it.”

How did ASICs develop on Ethereum?

ASIC resistance was originally a core consideration for Ethereum. The first version of the Ethereum whitepaper explained how distributing ETH through easily accessible computer hardware would be better for both community participation and the decentralization of the token.

Unfortunately, this ideal did not last. Bitmain, the leading mining hardware company, developed an Ethereum ASIC miner in 2018. A year later, Canaan also released an Ethereum ASIC that was 5 times more efficient than similar consumer hardware.

That being said, while chip manufacturers like Bitmain, Canaan, and Linzhi are clearly interested in keeping Ethereum on its current ASIC algorithm, this does not represent what the majority of miners want. Mining pools representing more than three-quarters of the hashrate have voted in favor of ProgPoW.

When evidence of ASICs was discovered, Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin expressed hesitation about devoting network resources to ASIC resistance, stating that PoS was imminent, which would make such an update redundant.

Two years later, the release date of Ethereum 2.0 is still uncertain. However, according to the plan, the first phase of Ethereum 2.0 will be launched this year.

Kristy-Leigh Minehan, the author behind the ProgPoW mining algorithm, declined to comment when asked how she felt the upgrade would affect ethereum, saying “the code speaks for itself.”

Martin Swende, head of security at the Ethereum Foundation, summed up the decision neatly. “Everything that needs to be said has been said. I think we just need to move on.”