- The proposed upgrade consists of several improvements
- The main aim is to make interoperability between blockchain easier
The developers of Ethereum Classic (ETC) have set a September date for the launch of a major system-wide upgrade to the cryptocurrency platform. The Atlantis hard fork upgrade comprises several improvements that have been under review since February this year.
Ethereum Classic hardfork coming this September
The ETC community made the official announcement via blog post on June 19, saying the Atlantis hard fork had already entered its testing phase. The foundation announced that the Ethereum Classic Labs Core development team had proposed to make the adjustment at the block height of Atlantis to 8772000, which will be about September 17, 2019 during the upcoming Ethereum Classic Improvement Proposal (ECIP) finalization call. The ETC team stated:
“In implementing Atlantis, we intend to fulfill two key priorities: (1) develop high-quality blockchain software that preserves the security of the network; and (2) consider the opinions and concerns of the community.”
Allow for interoperability
The Atlantis upgrade is meant to introduce changes to the Ethereum Classic network that were introduced to the original Ethereum network as far back as 2017. The aim is to improve interoperability between the two blockchains so as to make the migration of decentralized applications (Dapps) easier. Besides introducing key changes to the blockchain network that may allow for interoperability between Ethereum Classic and Ethereum (ETH), the developers want to establish unique and legitimate use cases for ETC. Earlier in April, Ethereum Classic community coordinator Donald McIntyre stated:
“A useful analogy is to see ETH as a sports car and ETC is an armored vehicle. The problem is to think that ETH can be an armored vehicle and ETC can be a sports car. ETH is about scaling and performance and ETC is about high value and security.”
Ethereum Classic and the DAO
Ethereum Classic (ETC) was created in 2016 after the fork of the Ethereum network following the infamous collapse of The DAO, a smart contract-based funding vehicle that failed following a debilitating code exploit. The fork arose amid disagreements over plans to hard fork the network to effectively undo the damage caused by The DAO’s failure, with ETC continuing on with the original chain.
Community members had raised concerns over the efficacy of making a fixed cap to the size of smart contract code on the blockchain a backwards-incompatible change – warranting a hard fork – as opposed to a backwards-compatible change which would not require a mandatory upgrade.