London Hard Fork Proves Ethereum Can Make Significant Changes, Vitalik Buterin


The most anticipated upgrade since the inception of Ethereum was carried out on August 5th. The upgrade has already started burning coins. So far hitting over 3 ETH burned per minute in the last 24 hours. Following the upgrade has been Ethereum co-founder saying the upgrade shows the network can make significant changes.

The success of the upgrade has no doubt introduced more faith in the network. Vitalik sees the successful hard fork as another step towards moving to ETH 2.0. The EIP-1559 that changed the fee structure was a very important part of this upgrade. Making it so that the gas fees generated from transactions were actually burned. Instead of being given to miners to be put back into circulation.

Related Reading | Here’s How Ethereum Founder’s $1 Billion Shiba Inu COVID Aid Donation Is Being Spent

The introduction of this base fee makes it so that transactions are transparent to users. With more accurate fee estimations available for users when sending transactions on the network. This base fee is then burned, reducing the amount of new ETH being put into circulation.

More Confident About The Transition To ETH 2.0

Buterin said in an interview with Bloomberg that EIP-1559 was the most important part of the upgrade. The upgrade to ETH 2.0 continues to be the focus of the Ethereum team going forward. And with the hard fork working as intended, the co-founder is more confident in the move to ETH 2.0.

Related Reading | Here’s The Reason Behind The Spike In Ethereum Gas Fees

The merge that will see the network move completely to ETH 2.0 is scheduled to happen in 2022. After numerous delays had pushed the estimated time of arrival even further back.

Vitalik himself had confirmed that the problem was not a technical one. But that the problems had more to do with the people working on the project. Earlier stating that he had underestimated the time it would take to complete the merge.

Related Reading | What Is Ethereum EIP-1159? Your Guide To Launch Day Lift-Off

Nevertheless, the co-founder remains committed to seeing the network move to the new mechanism. Vitalik said to Bloomberg that the London Hard Fork “definitely makes me more confident about the merge.” Continuing on further to say that the upgrade was “proof that the Ethereum ecosystem is able to make significant changes.”

Ethereum Increasing In Value

Ethereum price has recently seen a significant uptick in its price and usage. Things like NFTs which are deployed on the Ethereum network have contributed to this increase in value. NFTs continue to grow in popularity as significant figures jumping on the train to issue their own NFTs.

ETH price has thus seen recoveries following this. The successful launch of the London Hard Fork has sparked renewed enthusiasm in investors. Putting pressure on the price of ETH. Leading to a surge in the price of the digital asset.

Ethereum price chart from TradingView.com

ETH price up post-London Hark Fork | Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com

The weeks leading up to the launch of the hard fork saw the price of Ethereum spiking as the date drew closer. Increased fees due to traffic congestion have been a recurring pain point for investors. And the EIP-1559 was meant to solve part of this issue by bringing in a whole new fee structure. While simultaneously introducing new ways for ETH to become deflationary over time.

ETH price is currently trading at $2,750 at the time of this writing. With an overall market cap of $321 billion.

Featured image from Cointelegraph, chart from TradingView.com
Author: