Today, May 29, Ethereum Classic (ETC/USD) is undergoing a hard fork. This is reported in the official Twitter account of the project.
Expected Difficulty Bomb Removal HF - May 29, Block 5.9M < 3,564 blocks left - Please Update#EthereumClassic #ClassicIsComing
— Ethereum Classic (@eth_classic) May 28, 2018
This fork will be a normal network upgrade and no separation of the block is expected, therefore, new tokens will not be created and distributed to the owners of Ethereum Classic (ETC/USD) .
However, because of the upgrade, the so-called ‘difficulty bomb’ will be removed at block 5,900,000. By removing some of the code, the ETC developers extracting an algorithm that makes mining of each subsequent block after 5,900,000 more complex. Thereby issues related to mining profitability that could otherwise diminish future rewards for miners should be solved.
‘Difficulty bomb’ was added to the code by the developers of the original Ethereum, who planned to switch from a Proof of Work (POW) protocol, to Proof of Stake (POS) concept. However, since Ethereum Classic does not plan to change the algorithm and remains on PoW, this function is actually superfluous for the project.
The expected fork practically had no effect on the Ethereum Classic (ETC/USD) rate: the currency was traded at $ 15.07 (+ 1.5%).
By Ekaterina Ulyanova