The Ethereum update has officially happened, and so far, it seems to be going smoothly.
The fifth hard fork to occur on the second largest cryptocurrency has brought in a number of changes that are designed to improve the platform.
The #Ethereum Byzantium Hard Fork was successful! ??
Monitor It Live! https://t.co/AucspfAXk2— Ethereum Network (@EthereumNetw) 16 October 2017
This round of changes, known collectively as Byzantium, is the first part of the long-anticipated Metropolis development phase. There is a second planned hard fork called Constantinople which is expected in 2018.
The price of ETH has remained relatively stable both before and after the fork occurred, reflecting the fairly uncontentious nature of the updates.
Hard fork celebration! pic.twitter.com/mL1ZyJOYeA
— Vitalik Buterin (@VitalikButerin) 16 October 2017
Creator Vitalik Buterin has been celebrating with other developers.
Not entirely smooth
Despite its uncontentious nature, Byzantium was the first major upgrade since the technology catapulted into the mainstream last year and was not without a few technical issues.
The last few days have seen the Byzantium enable software retracted a number of times due to critical bugs being found in the code. Although developers managed to get the corrections in place right on the deadline of when the hard fork was due to occur, there were serious thoughts about delaying the fork altogether.
It is important to note that all Ethereum clients need to upgrade if they want to avoid ending up stuck on an incompatible chain that is still governed by the old rules.
This will mean that there is no replay protection against the old network. Old clients will still be able to build transactions, but they will no longer be able to see what effects those transactions have.
Interested in hearing leading global brands discuss subjects like this in person? Find out more at the Blockchain Expo World Series, Global, Europe and North America.
