Recently, Ethereum Core Devs Meeting 82, was held to determine the stance of the proposed mining algorithm change, Ethereum ProgPoW. This isn’t the first meeting to be held about ProgPoW, a similar one was held February 21, which saw ETH ProgPoW stamped as the new mining algorithm as a note of finality was passed on Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 1057.
ProgPoW which was initiated in 2018 had failed to sail through until its latest emergence into the Ethereum road map through EIP 1057. The mining algorithm, Programmatic Proof-of-Work which was coined into ProgPoW is Ethereum’s latest innovation which was created to demonstrate the strongest resilience to ASIC devices. ASIC refers to the Application Specific Integrated Circuit which has the specialized function of mining, having a superior edge over CPUs and GPU which are consumer preferences.
Barely four days after a note of finality seemed to have been passed on EIP 1057 in which ProgPoW was accepted as the new mining algorithm to replace ETH hash, the Ethereum community voiced out their discordance on ProgPoW as major stakeholders filed a petition on Github on Feb. 26 to register their disapproval with the decision. EIP 2538 was born as a result.
ProgPoW once again met stiff resistance as a greater number of Ethereum (ETH) project contributors registered their dissenting opinions which were conveyed by Vlad Zamfir, an ETH development veteran.
On the supporting end was Kristy-Leigh Minehan writer of ProgPoW, and Michael Carter, developer and YouTube host who were staunchly opposed by GnosisPM member, Martin Köppelmann and Matt Luongo
in an attempt to forge ahead, these notable calls were culled from the meeting.
First, it was proposed that ProgPoW be launched in a Testnet environment (whether special or Ropsten) and not include it in the hard-fork which is a compromise.
Second, a day before the meeting, a programming flaw was revealed in ProgPoW that permitted ASIC in hash mining with minor code changes.
Third, it was mutually consented that it’s was precarious to enact ProgPoW in terms of Ethereum network reliability and integrity.
Consequently, EIP 1057 still stands as a proposal while a new proposal may re-amend it.
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