Surprise! Ethereum 2020 Muir Glacier hard fork coming on 1st January

Ethereum 2020 Muir Glacier hard fork is happening sooner than you think! Scheduled for January 1, 2020, the upgrade has caught everyone by surprise considering many users aren’t ready. Node operators will not be able to upgrade since most are reported to have just finished off with the Istanbul hard fork. This upgrade is related o delaying the mining ice age.

Muir Glacier upgrade scheduled for 1 January 2020, will be hard to swallow since it is coming right at the end of the holiday season. Most servers and general users will not pay much attention. In fact, the entire crypto community is angry since two back to back updates mess up the systems, algorithms and mining schedules of large and small miners alike.

2020 Muir Glacier hard fork is more ready than Istanbul

The 2020 Muir Glacier hard fork, though untimely, has more chances of success compared to the Istanbul hard fork. Around sixty per cent (60%) nodes are positive towards this upcoming hard fork meaning nodes will be updated easily. At the time of Istanbul hard fork, around sixty per cent (60%) nodes weren’t ready. Thus, this marks a huge departure from Istanbul hard fork.

The surprise hard fork is relatively smaller and thus will not cause major disruptions or pose any threat to the network. Therefore, the supporters of 2020 Muir Glacier hard fork aren’t concerned much. Istanbul hard fork, on the other hand, had the potential to impact many smart contracts if not implemented correctly.

The ETH 2.0 network is more staking based instead of the conventional mining model. The new Ethereum network will be more efficient and transaction-oriented. However, ASIC still carries a considerable influence on the network. As 2019 ends, miners are facing increased difficulty and thus, the pace of mining has slowed down significantly. Interestingly, more blocks are likely to be discovered in January 2020.

Image Source: Pixabay