One of the most anticipated updates of Ethereum (ETH), London hard fork, has been activated on the Ropsten testnet. The update was activated by Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko today on the Ropsten Testnet at block height 10499401. Thus, the Ethereum London update was enabled for the first time on Ethereum's testnets.
The Ethereum (ETH) London update will be implemented a week later on 30 June on the Goerli testnet in Rinkeby. If nothing goes wrong, the London hardfork is expected to take place on July 7, 2021.
The Ethereum (ETH) London update includes 5 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) but the most important one is EIP 1559.
What is EIP 1559 and Why is it Important?
The biggest problem in the Ethereum network today is undoubtedly scalability. The current Ethereum blockchain is capable of processing approximately 15 transactions per second. For this reason, every transaction requested on the network above the processing capacity is put on hold. In other words, when this capacity is exceeded or when the pending transaction increases, miners demand more fees for transactions.
Nowadays, many projects use the Ethereum network, in this case increasing the density in the network. Due to this intensity, there are great increases in both transaction times and transaction fees. The EIP 1559 Improvement Proposal included in the Ethereum London update aims to solve these problems.
The EIP-1559 is aimed at solving high transaction fees and lengthy transfer confirmations during network congestion. In addition, a certain amount of ETH will be burned in every transaction that will take place on the network, thus decreasing the Ethereum supply. Thus, Ethereum will become a deflationary asset for the first time in its history. In addition, in cases of congestion, Gas capacity will be increased from 12.5 million per block to 25 million.
With this update, the concept of BaseFee will appear. BaseFee will be calculated separately for each block. In short, BaseFee is the minimum fee required to confirm a transaction. This fee will be burned after the transaction is approved. It was always rejected by the mining pools. Because of this, EIP 1559, which was previously planned to take place, has been continuously postponed.
In addition, the EIP-1559 offers users the feature to tip miners for faster transactions. This is a feature that allows transactions to be confirmed faster. Users will be able to add the tip they want to give to the miners with Miner Tip. In this way, users will be able to perform transactions faster. With these methods, EIP-1559 is thought to offer a solution to Ethereum's biggest problem, scalability.
In short, it is aimed to solve the problems related to high transaction fees and scalability, which are always problems. If everything goes as planned and the tests are successful, Ethereum (ETH) could reach higher heights.
What do you think of the Ethereum London Hard Fork? I would be glad if you comment.