Summary

Ethereum’s Arrow Glacier network upgrade delays the network’s difficulty bomb until June 2022. Previously, many updates also pushed back the difficulty bomb deadline. According to the system design, the difficulty bomb will increase the mining cost of Ethereum and increase the difficulty of mining. This feature drives the development of Ethereum 2.0 and helps miners transition to the new proof-of-stake blockchain.

This update includes an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) that delays the difficulty bomb. EIPs are change proposals created and reviewed by the Ethereum community. Arrow Glacier is particularly eye-catching and appears to be the last extension of the difficulty bomb before the release of Ethereum 2.0.

Introduction

There is still some time before the release of Ethereum 2.0. At the same time, regular updates just keep the blockchain functioning on track. For the average user, the Arrow Glacier update changes little, but means a lot. In fact, without this update, the network may end up being unusable. Let’s take a look at what this update means for users, stakers, cryptocurrency miners, and the upcoming Ethereum 2.0, and why this upgrade is happening.

What is the Ethereum Arrow Glacier upgrade?

The Ethereum Arrow Glacier upgrade is a fairly simple update, completed in block 13773000 on December 9, 2021. Arrow Glacier delays the network’s difficulty bomb, giving developers more time to prepare for Ethereum 2.0. Delayed difficulty bombs are a regular feature of Ethereum updates. Previously, the difficulty bomb was expected to arrive together with the London hard fork in December 2021, but it is currently postponed to around June 2022.

The Arrow Glacier is very similar to the previous upgrade of Muir Glacier in January 2020, and the difficulty bomb is also postponed. Both updates contained only an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) to postpone the "Ice Age." The Constantinople, Byzantium, and London updates also have difficulty bombs postponed.

What is the Ethereum difficulty bomb?

Currently, the Ethereum blockchain uses the Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism. As a result, transaction validators must use computing power to solve mathematical puzzles. In this process, costs need to be spent to establish consensus and protect the network from criminals.

Difficulty bombs gradually increase the difficulty of these puzzles, raising the cost of block mining. At some point in the future, the difficulty bomb will "explode," making it almost impossible to verify transactions and add new blocks. The cost of mining the blockchain will be extremely high. There are two main reasons for adding the difficulty bomb:

1. To assist the development of Ethereum 2.0 and the transition to the Proof of Stake (PoS) model.

2. Force miners to upgrade to the new PoS blockchain because they cannot continue to mine Ethereum (ETH) in the old version of Ethereum’s PoW. This prevents the creation of two conflicting Ethereum networks through a hard fork.

What is the Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP)?

EIP can propose any improvements or changes to Ethereum. EIPs can be created by anyone and will be reviewed by the Ethereum community, editorial board, and Ethereum developers. To incorporate updates, the EIP must be approved. Each EIP contains technical requirements for completing specific changes according to a specific EIP format. We mentioned above that the Arrow Glacier upgrade only includes one EIP, in this case EIP-4345. Its sole goal is to delay the ice age of Ethereum mining.

How will the Ethereum Arrow Glacier update affect me?

For standard users, this update will not make any noticeable difference. Over the past year, confirmed block times have remained almost constant at around 13 seconds. If you are a node operator or a miner, you need to upgrade the Ethereum client to the latest version. Otherwise, your client will only be on an old fork of Ethereum and will not continue to be supported by the official community.

Summary

Arrow Glacier is only a small update, but it is of great significance . Without it, the network's mining costs will increase in advance and usage speed will decrease. This is also very exciting for the Ethereum community. If it is the last extension of the difficulty bomb, Ethereum 2.0 could see the public as early as June 2022.