
Ethereum Constantinople Hard Fork – ALL You Need to Know – Explained Simply - acob
https://achainofblocks.com/2018/12/20/ethereum-constantinople-hard-fork-explained-simply/
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apo
_The 4th proposal is EIP 1234, Constantinople Difficulty Bomb Delay and Block
Reward Adjustment, Championed by Afri Schoedon. EIP 1234 is the proposal that
has been garnering the most attention. The approved proposal has to do with
delaying the difficulty bomb and reducing the block reward. ..._

The Reward Adjustment looks and smells like a legislative rider. The immediate
problem is the difficulty bomb, which is designed to reduce the power of
miners to reject a hard fork to proof-of-stake (PoS). Without a postponement
(given that PoS isn't ready), the entire Ethereum network grinds to a halt.

Someone is clearly concerned about Ethereum's high rate of money growth and
wants to do something about it. Miners are unlikely to agree to a subsidy cut
by itself, but are more likely to do so if it's part of a package that avoids
network gridlock.

The complexity of Ethereum underneath its veneer of slick websites and trendy
conferences is breathtaking. Each update to fundamental parameters such as
difficulty or money supply expands an already sizable attack surface and risks
accidental show-stoppers.

At best, these seat-of-your-pants adjustments to fundamental parameters take
the SS Ethereum ever further from the land of "code is law" toward the far
less interesting land of "politics is law."

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gus_massa
If Vitalik makes a hard fork to change the PoW to PoS, the miners can
simultaneously make a hard fork to defuse the bomb.

