Ethereum Proposal is Primed to Delay ‘Difficulty Bomb’ and Reduce Block Reward

Earlier today, 14 Ethereum developers met over video conference to discuss changes to the proposed ‘difficulty bomb’ and block reward.

They agreed to support the EIP1234 that would decrease block reward from 3 ETH to 2 ETH as well as delay the ‘difficulty bomb’. The proposed EIP1234 would be added to the Constantinople upgrade, scheduled for October.

The postponement the difficulty bomb – a feature designed to increase the difficulty of mining rewards, making mining less attractive – has been received well by the community despite the fact it is considered a controversial topic – especially for miners invested heavily in hardware.

Many traders are in favour of the 2 ETH block reward as it reduces Ethereum’s inflation rate which is currently greater than that of Bitcoin.

It is thought that the reduced mining reward would constrain the supply, in turn reducing the selling pressure from miners. According to a Twitter thread from Eric Conner, the Ethereum network has paid $6.6 billion to miners over the past 365 days:

4/ This isn’t a shock given ETH’s high inflation rate of ~7.5%. Due to delays in Proof of Stake, this has pushed Ethereum’s total supply well over 100,000,000 and needs to be addressed immediately.

Fun fact! In the past 365 days, the Ethereum network has paid $6.6bn to miners. pic.twitter.com/KRUuLHqKyb

— Eric Conner (@econoar) August 27, 2018

Some members of the community, however are not happy with the lack of discussion. Ethereum miners and investors who were present at the previous meeting regarding the Constantinople upgrade were excluded from today’s meeting. Some have seen this as a controversial decision, because the difficulty bomb and block reward reduction is likely to have a greater impact on miners than developers.

With over a month until the Constantinople upgrade, it remains to be seen whether the wider community of investors, traders, miners and developers will rally in support of EIP 1234.