Ethereum has undergone several hard forks throughout its history, with each fork resulting in changes to the Ethereum protocol and the creation of a new blockchain with its own set of rules and features. In this article, you will learn Ethereum forks: what is the history of Ethereum forks.
What is an Ethereum Fork?
An Ethereum fork refers to a major change or upgrade to the Ethereum network's underlying protocol that results in a divergence of the blockchain's history into two separate paths. Essentially, an Ethereum fork involves creating a new version of the Ethereum blockchain with new features, rules, or improvements.
Ethereum Forks: What is the History of Ethereum Forks?
Here is a brief overview of some of the most significant Ethereum hard forks:
Frontier (2015): The initial release of the Ethereum network, which allowed for the creation of smart contracts and decentralized applications.
Homestead (2016): Introduced various improvements and optimizations to the Ethereum protocol, including security enhancements and the removal of the Ether pre-sale.
DAO Fork (2016): A contentious hard fork that resulted from the infamous DAO hack, which allowed attackers to steal a large amount of Ether from the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) on the Ethereum network. The hard fork resulted in the creation of two separate blockchains, with the majority of the community supporting the hard fork to refund DAO token holders and prevent future attacks.
EIP-150 (2016): Introduced several gas cost changes to the Ethereum network, including a reduction in the cost of contract creation and an increase in the cost of certain opcodes to prevent spam attacks.
Byzantium (2017): A major upgrade to the Ethereum protocol that introduced several new features and improvements, including the implementation of the zk-SNARKs privacy technology, the difficulty bomb delay, and the reduction of mining rewards.
Constantinople (2019): Another major upgrade to the Ethereum protocol that introduced several new features and improvements, including the implementation of the ProgPoW mining algorithm, the EIP-145 opcode, and the reduction of block rewards.
Muir Glacier (2020): An emergency hard fork that delayed the Ethereum difficulty bomb and pushed back the time of the next network upgrade.
Berlin (2021): A hard fork that introduced several new features and improvements, including the implementation of EIP-2565. which reduced gas costs for certain types of transactions, and EIP-2929. which increased gas costs for certain types of transactions to improve network security.
London (2021): Another hard fork that introduced several new features and improvements, including the implementation of EIP-1559. which changed the way transaction fees are calculated and burned, and EIP-3529. which reduced gas costs for certain types of operations.
Altair (2021): Altair was the first major network upgrade that had an exact rollout time. Every upgrade prior had been based on a declared block number on the proof-of-work chain, where block times vary.
Arrow Glacier (2021): The Arrow Glacier network upgrade pushed back the difficulty bomb by several months. This is the only change introduced in this upgrade, and is similar in nature to the Muir Glacier upgrade. Similar changes have been performed on the Byzantium, Constantinople and London network upgrades.
Gray Glacier (2021): The Gray Glacier network upgrade pushed back the difficulty bomb by three months. This is the only change introduced in this upgrade, and is similar in nature to the Arrow Glacier and Muir Glacier upgrades. Similar changes have been performed on the Byzantium, Constantinople and London network upgrades.
Bellatrix (2021): The Bellatrix upgrade was the second scheduled upgrade for the Beacon Chain, preparing the chain for The Merge. It brings validator penalties to their full values for inactivity and slashable offenses. Bellatrix also includes an update to the fork choice rules to prepare the chain for The Merge and the transition from the last proof-of-work block to the first proof-of-stake block.
Paris - The Merge (2022): The Paris upgrade was triggered by the proof-of-work blockchain passing a terminal total difficulty. This happened at block 15537393 on 15th September 2022. triggering the Paris upgrade to the next block. Paris was The Merge transition - its major feature was switching off the proof-of-work mining algorithm and associated consensus logic and switching on proof-of-stake instead.
Bottom Line
Each of these hard forks has played a crucial role in shaping the development of the Ethereum network and improving its functionality, security, and scalability. This article is about Ethereum forks: what is the history of Ethereum forks.
