The Ethereum network will undergo a network upgrade scheduled in block 15,050,000what is expected to happen Wednesday, June 29, 2022. The exact date is subject to change due to variable times and time zones. Please upgrade your node before Monday June 27, 2022 to account for variable block times.
What is the Gray Glacier?
The Gray Glacier network update changes the parameters of Ice Age/Difficulty Bomb, delaying it by 700,000 blocks, or roughly 100 days. This has also been done in the Byzantium, constantinople, muir glacier, London Y Arrow Glacier network updates. No other changes are introduced as part of Gray Glacier.
With Ropsten has now transitioned to proof of stake, the difficulty bomb only affects the Ethereum mainnet. This means that Gray Glacier will not be deployed to any testnet.
client versions
To be compatible with the Gray Glacier upgrade, node operators will need to upgrade the version of the client they are running to one of the following:
Upgrade Specification and EIP
The full specification for the upgrade can be found in the execution specifications low repository grey-glacier.md.
Only one EIP is included in the update: EIP-5133: Difficulty Bomb Delayed Until Mid-Sept 2022.
As an Ethereum user or Ethereum holder, is there anything I need to do?
If you use an exchange, web wallet service, mobile wallet service, or hardware wallet, you don’t need to do anything unless your wallet or exchange service tells you to take additional steps.
As a miner or node operator, what should I do?
Download the latest version of your Ethereum client, as indicated in the table above.
What happens if I am a miner or node operator and I don’t participate in the upgrade?
If you are using an Ethereum client that is not updated to the latest version (mentioned above), your client will sync with the pre-fork blockchain once the update occurs. You will be stuck in an incompatible chain following the above rules and will not be able to send Ether or trade on the Ethereum network post-update.
What is a network upgrade in Ethereum-land?
A network upgrade is a change to the underlying Ethereum protocol, which creates new rules to improve the system. The decentralized nature of blockchain systems makes upgrading the network more difficult. Network upgrades on a blockchain require cooperation and communication with the community as well as the developers of the various Ethereum clients in order for the transition to go smoothly.
What happens during a network update?
Once the community agrees on what changes should be included in the update, the protocol changes are written to the various Ethereum clients such as Besu, Erigon, go-ethereum, and Nethermind. Protocol changes are triggered on a specific block number. Any nodes that have not updated to the new rule set will be left in the old chain where the old rules will still exist.
Why “Glacier Grey”?
While we generally use Ethereum conference city names for execution layer network upgrades, upgrades that only delay the bomb/ice age difficulty use glacier names instead.
Glacier Gray was chosen because it literally merges on another glacier, just as the Ethereum execution layer will soon merge with the Beacon Chain.
thanks to matt palmer for the original cover image and Tomo Saito for the edits.
