What’s the Deal with EIP150?

The Ethereum development team has hit the brakes on the execution of EIP150, a hard fork intended to ramp up the gas costs associated with transactions. The new target block is now set at 2463000. If you thought getting a table at a busy restaurant was hard, try getting your data validated on Ethereum right now.

Coinbase Sounds the Alarm

In a move that had all the suspense of a cliffhanger ending, Coinbase has warned its users about potential network instability following the announcement. Effective October 17, they will temporarily halt ETH transactions, leaving many users sweating like they forgot their WiFi password. They noted that deposits and withdrawals could face delays for about a week, which is about as fast as a turtle running a marathon.

The DoS Dilemma

Since late September, the Ethereum network has been subjected to a slew of denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, with bad actors spamming it with transactions like it’s Black Friday at a tech store. Despite numerous updates—one might say the network has more patches than a quilter’s workshop—it still faltered under pressure. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin addressed the issue, claiming that while there are changes in the works, the challenges posed by transaction spam remain substantial. Talk about throwing money at a problem!

Focus on Storage Cost

Buterin is optimistic about the hard fork’s potential to offset delays and thwart future DoS attacks by altering the cost of storage. According to him, the changes being implemented are designed to make the network less attractive to spammers. As he put it:

“This EIP increases the cost of storage reading opcodes to address this concern.”

It’s his way of saying that spammers will have to bring a lot more to the table than just a handful of transactions.

The Bitcoin Backlash

Meanwhile, Bitcoin experts aren’t holding back in critiquing Ethereum’s security measures. They’ve been spouting opinions that could fill a library while echoing the sentiment that the overly flexible structure of Ethereum leads to undesirable network delays and security issues. One such expert quipped about watching Ethereum’s blockchain balloon to 10GB in a day and still thinking Bitcoin needs unlimited block size. It’s like watching a slow-motion train wreck and surprisingly considering it a good idea.

In a scathing two-part series, Tuur Demeester from Adamant Research argued,

“No matter which configuration you choose, there will be a trade-off between cost, security, speed, and flexibility… Ethereum has a different approach. It prioritizes flexibility and, I argue, it compromises on security, speed, and even cost.”

Ouch!