Start of Berlin hardfork to bridge the gap between classic and new versions of Ethereum postponed to early 2021

During a conference call between the Ethereum Core developers, it became known that the hardfork of the classic version of Ethereum will be postponed for several months. Tentatively - for January 2021. So first - in December 2020, the zero phase of Ethereum 2.0 will be launched, and only then - an update to the classic version, designed to establish interaction.

Here is the point. The classic version simply does not support many changes introduced in the new one, so it will not be possible to establish their interaction without serious revision. For example, it is planned to add a Beacon Chain, which will allow Ethereum classic supporters to use the PoS algorithm during work. Modified BLS signatures will also be introduced to ensure normal operation with Ethereum 2.0 depository contracts, transaction accounting and staking. Plus a number of specifications and network improvement proposals (EIP) aimed at reducing ETH consumption and optimizing the operation of the virtual machine. And the ProgPoW algorithm, which optimizes the proof of work mechanism, taking away advantages from nodes that use powerful ASIC devices.

Yes, as you can see, Berlin has to bring extremely useful additions and optimizations. The problem is that it still can't run normally, even in test mode. Initially, the launch of the first YOLO testnet did not take place in June 2020, as it was not possible to synchronize different versions of clients and EIP. Then the planned YOLO 2.0 shift in August was postponed due to the over-reliance of the majority on the Geth client and the lack of confidence that it could be successfully modified. And at the end of autumn, they are going to launch YOLO v3 in order to finally make sure that the updated system is working. And this testnet should work for some time in order to identify possible errors.

The Berlin update is considered a hard fork for a reason - it will divide all Ethereum Classic users into two unequal parts - those who can interact with the new network and move their savings into it without any problems, and those who cannot. At the same time, updating the kernel does not mean an automatic update of the entire ecosystem associated with it. However, for this purpose, various "bridges" and "gateways" are already being created. After all, the main goal of developers is to create a full-fledged large-scale ecosystem in which projects will interact with each other, and not be isolated and independent. And this is difficult, taking to attention the number of differences that are typical for different blockchains.

Fortunately, all difficulties with updating the old version should not affect the release of Ethereum 2.0 - it will take place according to the planned schedule.

Published on the EXBASE based on materials from bloomchain.ru