Members of Ethereum’s open-source development team have reached agreement on an activation time for Constantinople, a proposed code change designed to give users the option to update the blockchain with additional features. This code change will make it backward incompatible with the earlier version of Ethereum, resulting in what is known as a “hard fork” on the blockchain.

Major cryptocurrency exchanges Huobi Global and OKEx have been reported to be in support of the Constantinople hard fork, and have been taking steps to prepare for the transition.

The hard fork was first discussed back in 2017 during a developer-stakeholder meeting with a plan to launch in 2018. However, that launch was delayed due to problems on the Ropsten TestNet launch.

Speaking at a bi-weekly core developer meeting Friday (Jan 4), developers agreed on Block 7,080,000 on the Ethereum blockchain as the activation point at which users will be able to elect to upgrade to the new code. In other words, should users choose to accept the change by upgrading their software, the update will go live when the block is mined.

The expected schedule for the hard fork is between January 14 and 18, and supposedly a big component of Ethereum’s transition from using a proof-of-work protocol to proof-of-stake. As such, it will implement five improvement protocols into Ethereum’s blockchain – four focusing on short-term scaling, while the other is centered on reducing Ether issuance from 3 ETH to 2 ETH per block.

Essential role in delaying the “Difficulty Bomb”

The Constantinople hard fork essentially includes changes to Ethereum’s underlying mining economic policy and the delay of the “Difficulty Bomb”, which was introduced in September 2015, soon after the launch of the Ethereum network with aims to make the production of new blocks more complex and unfavorable.

The Difficulty Bomb delay will be included in Constantinople to maintain the stability of the system, by leaving the network in the same state as before. Reducing the block reward also decreases the likelihood of a miner-driven chain split as Ethereum approaches a proof-of-stake algorithm.