Ethereum (ETH) Berlin Hard Fork Goes Live as ETH Eyes $2,500

The highly-anticipated Ethereum Berlin hard fork is now live.

What does the Hard Fork Offer?

Ethereum, the world’s largest smart contracts platform is primed for a major upgrade via the Berlin hard fork. The hard fork will introduce several important EIPs into the protocol to make it more efficient and feasible for users.

https://twitter.com/GODofETH/status/1382637706728067079

Specifically, the Berlin hard fork will incorporate four major EIPs developed by users and integrated into the blockchain network’s code by Ethereum core developers.

First is EIP-2565 which essentially promises to mitigate the gas costs. Close followers of the cryptocurrency industry are well aware of the sky-high gas costs on the Ethereum network due to the high demand for usage.

While large and institutional investors are able to afford these gas fees, retail investors are not. In that regard, EIP-2565 is geared toward bringing down gas costs.

Second is EIP-2718 which promises to enable users to combine their transactions.

Further, the remaining two EIPs come from Ethereum core developers Martin Swende and Vitalik Buterin. These EIPs are EIP-2929 and EIP-2930.

EIP-2929 could be considered a double-edged sword as it essentially slightly increases the transaction costs to compensate for higher processing times and limit denial-of-service attacks.

To add to the aforementioned increase in gas fees, EIP-2930 would aid in reducing the risk of broken smart contracts.

What Lies Ahead for Ethereum?

The Berlin hard fork is receiving significant attention from all corners of the cryptocurrency industry which could be observed in the rising price of ether which continues to make new ATH values with each passing day.

Major DeFi DEX aggregator 1inch announced its support for the Berlin hard fork promising its users that after the upgrade, transactions will be much cheaper on their platform. Notably, the Berlin hard fork will be activated at block 12,244,000.

It is worthy of note that the Berlin hard fork will not include the contentious EIP-1559 upgrade which promises to put deflationary pressure on ether’s total supply subsequently leading to a steady rise in the digital asset’s value.

The highly controversial EIP-1559 is scheduled to go live sometime in July 2021 although there is no official word confirming the exact date for the same.