With the mining of block 9,200,000, the Muir Glacier upgrade has been implemented on the network. The block was mined Jan. 2 at 8:30 UTC.
Ethereum has completed its second hard fork in less than 30 days.
As of press time, 92 percent of ethereum clients were synced with the new upgrade, according to Ethernodes.
First proposed by EthHub’s Eric Conner in November as Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 2384, Muir Glacier delays the “difficulty bomb” by four million blocks. With the delay, the difficulty bomb is expected to not “go off” again for a few years, at least until the deployment of key Eth 2.0 features such as the finality gadget.
A purposeful design since ethereum’s launch in 2015, the difficulty bomb slowly increases block time settlement so as to push the network toward proof-of-stake (PoS).
If Muir Glacier was not implemented, the cost of transactions on the current ethereum network would skyrocket as block settlement times are projected to hit 20–30 seconds per block. As fewer blocks are minted every day, the cost of fitting transactions into blocks increases, Conner said.
“Imagine we had 13-second block times (that means we can do about 6,500 blocks a day)”, Conner explained. “Once we get to 20-second block times, we can only do 4,300 blocks a day. If we assume the network is generally fully utilized, we now have more fighting for block space every day. That’s going to drive the fee market up and make transactions more costly to dapp users.”
Ethereum’s transition to PoS has been a slow-moving endeavor, however. Optimistic timelines place Eth 2.0 for some time in 2021 under the Serenity update. Muir Glacier, like ethereum’s 2019 Istanbul, Constantinople and St. Petersburg hard forks, fall under the Eth 1.x descriptor, understood as incremental moves toward the Eth 2.0 network overhaul.
Microsoft Announces Token Collectibles on Ethereum Blockchain
Microsoft’s blockchain-enabled cloud platform Microsoft Azure announced the “Azure Heroes” blockchain non-fungible tokens (NFT) aimed at rewarding its developer community.
The tokens represent cartoonish badgers (a play on the word “badge”) and aim to compensate positive behavior in Azure’s community. Each badger has a limited supply ranging from just 100 units to 10,000, Microsoft announced on Dec. 4. The firm said:
“Azure Heroes aims to reward individuals for verifiable acts of impact such as coaching, creating demos, building sample code, blogging about Azure or completing certain challenges. Community members that have demonstrated their contributions will be recognised with badges across a number of categories.”
Microsoft’s assets on Ethereum
Microsoft created the non-fungible tokens on the Ethereum blockchain in collaboration with blockchain gaming startup Enjin. The tokens will be minted each season and the limited quantities will be publicly verifiable and distributed via a QR code that prompts the receiver to install a wallet.
For someone to obtain the token he has to be nominated, which he can do himself. Nominated individuals will be judged and those that had a verifiable impact on the community will be chosen to receive a badger.
Blockchain non-fungible tokens gain traction
Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are a blockchain-based token that cannot be replaced for something else and are unique. Such tokens are often used for digital collectible items, with one early example being Crytpokitties.
Earlier this month, gamebook firm Fabled Lands announced that it is collaborating with Microsoft and major game developer Eidos to develop a blockchain card game based on a 1980s best-selling gamebook called “The Way of the Tiger.” Fabled Lands will use NFTs on the VeChain blockchain to secure in-game assets and collectibles.
