Shanghai Hard Fork Causes Concern Among Developers, Here Are Reasons

Despite some challenges in 2022, the arrival of The Merge on the Ethereum (ETH) network was a notable positive event. This update marks a historic milestone for the smart contract platform as it introduced the first fully functional blockchain powered by a new consensus model.

As we enter 2023, the Ethereum network is set to undergo further transformations, with the long-awaited Shanghai hard fork being one of the most notable developments. This fork aims to increase trading capacity by releasing units of cryptocurrency staked on the beacon chain.

Introduced in December 2020, the Beacon Chain serves as the predecessor to the Proof of Stake (PoS) version of Ethereum (ETH). It will play a key role in Ethereum 2.0, a network upgrade aimed at improving the scalability, security, and energy efficiency of smart contract blockchains.

In addition to increased liquidity, Shanghai could bring other benefits to the Ethereum network, including:

• Greater decentralization of ETH in staking.
• Improved scalability.
• Enhanced security for smart contract execution.

But some developers are concerned about Shanghai

The Shanghai hard fork is scheduled for March, and in anticipation of a successful implementation, private testing will begin in late 2022, with public testing scheduled for February. The developers have also incorporated EVM Object Format (EOF) to minimize potential delays during hard forks.

However, some developers have expressed concerns about the timing of the update, fully considering the long-term technical debt that could have a lasting impact on the network for years and decades to come. It says it may be rolling out too quickly.

Technical debt in the context of software development refers to a set of problems and delayed commitments that a team accumulates over time. This liability can include complex code, poor documentation, poor testing, and other code quality issues.

These issues are often the result of pressure to deliver new features quickly without considering long-term maintenance costs. As altcoins serve as the primary protocol for decentralized applications, this could have a negative impact on Ethereum and its users.

Ethereum developers are currently discussing the possibility of encoding Ethereum withdrawals using a new method called SSZ, as opposed to the current method, RLP. This is due to concerns that using the old method may cause problems in the future. This discussion may seem complicated to the non-technical, but it could impact how developers treat Ethereum in the future.

It’s worth noting that this discussion is being led by a small group of developers, and it’s likely that the discussion won’t be adopted and the Shanghai hard fork scheduled for March will proceed. This delay in updating could adversely affect Ethereum’s capitalization.