The Ethereum development team approved the final details of the upcoming Istanbul hard fork, naming, in particular, six code changes that will be activated on the network of this second cryptocurrency capitalization. This is written by CoinDesk .

At previous meetings, the developers agreed that Istanbul will be activated in two stages. The first one will include all six changes (EIPs) and is expected to be launched on the Ethereum core network in October. The second phase should be implemented in the first quarter of 2020. It will include changes that still require refinement and testing, including the new ProgPoW mining algorithm.

“We divided Istanbul into two parts. One of them can be launched in a few weeks, and the second contains two really large EIPs that we would like to have, but they require improvements that cannot be completed within 2-3 weeks, ”said Peter Siladiyi, head of the Ethereum Foundation development department.

The first part of Istanbul will be the eighth hard fork in the Ethereum network. It is expected that it will expand the possibilities of interaction with the Zcash cryptocurrency, help protect the network from replay attacks, and will also contain other important updates.

Two of the six upgrades were approved in June . For example, the EIP 2024 proposal adds a new precompiler to the Ethereum virtual machine, which is designed to optimize the operation of the blockchain and make operations less expensive. In particular, EIP 2024 introduces a precompiler for the new hash function Blake2, which quickly verifies data in the blockchain compared to SHA-3, for example. Various variations of Blake2 are used by some projects, including Zcash and the Handshake domain name platform.

Another proposal (EIP 1702), authored by Parity Technologies developer Wei Tang, aims to optimize smart contract updates. It also involves the introduction of a new methodology for hard forks – “account versioning,” which simplifies the process of updating or launching a new virtual machine.

Developers of such large Ethereum clients as Geth and Parity now have exactly one week to integrate approved EIPs into their software and prepare to implement the full version of the code in the Ropsten test network.

Note that earlier it was assumed that the activation of Istanbul in the test network will occur earlier this week, on Wednesday, August 14, but these deadlines were shifted by two weeks. According to Ciladia, a new date is set for September 4, but it is possible that it can also be reviewed until the work on upgrades is completed.

Activating Istanbul on the test network will be the last step before launching the update on the Ethereum core network. As with any other hard fork, miners will need to update their software in order not to remain in the old chain.

Recall, according to a poll conducted by Twitter investor and author of the book “Altcoin Trader's Guide” Nick Patel, more than half of users believe that sooner or later Ethereum will again be trading above $ 1000.

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