The Ethereum network will undergo a scheduled network upgrade at block 15,050,000what should happen Wednesday June 29, 2022. The exact date is subject to change due to varying block times and time zones. Please upgrade your node before Monday June 27, 2022 to account for varying block times.
What is Gray Glacier?
The Gray Glacier network upgrade changes the Glacial Bomb/difficulty settings, pushing it back 700,000 blocks, or approximately 100 days. This was also done in the Byzantium, Constantinople, Muir Glacier, London And Arrow Glacier network upgrades. No other changes are introduced as part of Gray Glacier.
With Ropsten has now moved to proof of stakeThe difficulty bomb only affects the Ethereum mainnet. This means that Gray Glacier will not be deployed on any testnet.
Client versions
In order to be compatible with the Gray Glacier upgrade, node operators will need to update the client version they are running to one of those listed below:
Upgrade Specification and EIP
Full upgrade specifications can be found in the execution specifications deposit under gris-glacier.md.
Only one EIP is included in the upgrade: EIP-5133: delay difficulty bomb until mid-September 2022.
As an Ethereum user or Ether holder, do I need to do anything?
If you are using an exchange, web wallet service, mobile wallet service, or hardware wallet, you do not need to do anything unless your exchange or wallet service notifies you to take additional measures.
As a node operator or miner, what should I do?
Download the latest version of your Ethereum client, as shown in the table above.
What happens if I’m a miner or node operator and don’t participate in the upgrade?
If you are using an Ethereum client that is not updated to the latest version (listed above), your client will sync with the pre-fork blockchain once the upgrade is complete. You will be stuck on an incompatible chain following the old rules and will not be able to send Ether or operate on the Ethereum network after the upgrade.
What is a network upgrade in Ethereum-land?
A network upgrade is a change to the underlying Ethereum protocol, creating new rules to improve the system. The decentralized nature of blockchain systems makes network upgrades more difficult. Network upgrades in a blockchain require cooperation and communication with the community, as well as with the developers of the different Ethereum clients for the transition to go smoothly.
What happens during a network upgrade?
Once the community has reached agreement on what changes to include in the upgrade, the protocol changes are written to the various Ethereum clients, such as Besu, Erigon, go-ethereum, and Nethermind. Protocol changes are activated at a specific block number. Any nodes that have not been upgraded to the new set of rules will be abandoned on the old chain where the previous rules continue to exist.
Why “Glacier Grey”?
Although we typically use Ethereum conference city names for runtime layer network upgrades, upgrades that only delay the bomb/ice age difficulty instead use the names of glaciers.
Glacier Gray was chosen because it literally merges in another glacier, just as Ethereum’s execution layer will soon be merged with the Beacon Chain!
Thanks to Matt Palmer for the original cover image and Tomo Saito for the modifications.
