Ethereum Devs Take a Look at Potential ETH Issuance Reduction
August 24, 2018 by William Peaster
Friday, August 24th, Ethereum Core’s developers hosted a series of guests in, among other things, discussing a possible ether issuance reduction within the Ethereum blockchain’s nigh Constantinople fork update. The project’s current issuance is 3 ETH per mined block. Discussion centered around whether that figure should stay put, or shift to 2 ETH (EIP-1234) or 1 ETH (EIP-858).
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To Reduce or Not to Reduce? That’s the Question
Ethereum Core’s 45th meeting had as a keystone topic a formal discussion around whether the Ethereum blockchain’s ether issuance should be reduced or stay put at its current 3-ETH-per-block level. The issuance metric was last modified during the project’s previous Byzantium update, wherein the level was lessened from 5 ETH to 3 ETH.
Major changes to the ETH block reward are being discussed on today’s core devs call…
Proposals
? EIP-858: Reduce block reward to 1 ETH per block
? EIP-1234: Reduce block reward to 2 ETH
? EIP-1295: Keep rewards to 3 ETHWatch here ?? https://t.co/zS6pERt5iO
— Spencer Noon ? (@spencernoon) August 24, 2018
Specifically, up for discussion in the latest livestreamed developer meeting were proposals that would keep the ETH block reward where it’s currently at as well as reductions to 2 ETH and 1 ETH respectively.
No decisive path forward was determined during the meeting and the parties at-hand agreed to return to topic at a later date. Still, in the livestream and beyond, there were and have been strong opinions about a potential issuance reduction.
Generally speaking, skeptics have worried that without a simultaneous reduction of mining difficulty, an ETH issuance lowering could eradicate the profitability of mining on Ethereum. The argument here is that ETH GPU miners would branch out to more profitable coins accordingly.
On the flip side, a whopping majority of voters on CarbonVote have voted for a new ETH issuance of less-than 3 ETH but equal-to or less-than 2 ETH. Likewise, in today’s livestream, developer Matthew Light made a resounding case for why a lessening should be in order.
While today’s formal discussions were ultimately indecisive, developers like Hudson Jameson have been reaching out to miners in recent days in order to bring an array of stakeholders into the conversation.
ETHEREUM MINERS ⛏️
This Friday at the Ethereum core developer meeting we are going to be talking about the upcoming hard fork and the possibility of ether issuance reduction. If you have an opinion on the matter you want to write down or want to join the call please DM me.
— Hudson Jameson (@hudsonjameson) August 22, 2018
For many, then, all eyes will be on the future Ethereum Core meetings where issuance rates may once again be a central topic.
A Contentious Fork?
Others have brought up the possibility of a contentious hard fork of the Ethereum mainchain come Constantinople over the issuance issue.
Whether such a dynamic will come to bear remains to be seen, but it will certainly be a plot point to keep an eye out for in the coming weeks.
1/ @CumberlandSays raising the question of how #Ethereum miners will react if EIP 858 is put in place, dropping the coinbase reward from 3 –> 1 $ETH. https://t.co/wETDvvgyx6 pic.twitter.com/8ef1zt0OuC
— Chris Burniske (@cburniske) August 23, 2018
Placeholder partner Chirs Burniske has even posited that a contentious fork may not affect ETH markets “negatively.” Again, it will be an interesting thread to keep an eye on going forward for everyone in the cryptoverse.
2/ Would be curious if more #Ethereum miners have piped in + if the potential of a contentious fork arises, the market may not interpret that negatively. $BTC rallied into the anticipated #SegWit2x fork last year so that people could get their “dividend.” ?♂️
— Chris Burniske (@cburniske) August 23, 2018
Only time will tell what happens next.
What’s your take? Are you an Ethereum miner? What would you like to see the issuance level at? Sound off in the comments below.
Images via Pixabay
